The Camping Effect
by Beck2
Summary: A side story to the Morphos effect! Julian's adventures in camping! Chapter eighteen: In come the Brotherhood! Water damage repair!
1. Camping

Disclaimer: I own not the X-men nor marvel. I do however own Julian, Cassius, Brutus, and Doggy. I also own other characters of my own creation associated with these beings. 

A/N

A side story to the Morphos Effect! While Danny is traipsing around in South America, Julian is having his own fun with a camping trip! I hope you all like it!

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"Can you teach me how to fly? Mom said that I could fly when I'm older!"

"I don't think so. I'm afraid of what'll happen when you actually do learn to fly."

"AWW!" The little mutant pouted. He quickly stopped when he saw Jamie, however, and leaped over towards him.

"Let's set up our tent!" Multiple said excitedly waving one of the poles. Warren Worthington III began massaging his temple. How, how did the Professor manage to convince him to take these kids out camping?

"How do you set up a tent? Do we need the instructions?"

"Bobby said that instructions are for wusses." Jamie said confidently. "We're not wusses."

"Yeah!"

Warren covered his eyes with one hand. This, no doubt, would end up badly, but on the trip over the two boys insisted on putting up their own tent.

Kurt bamphed in, scaring Warren, who still wasn't quite used to it.

"This should be fun, Ja? Hey, do you two need help?" He bamphed over to them, or rather above them, he was hanging from the tree they were building their tent under.

"Nah, we're going to make it ourselves!"

"Have you read the instructions?"

"Bobby doesn't use instructions!"

"…Maybe I should help you two."

"Don't worry about it! You gotta make your own tent!" The little furry one shooed him away. Kurt shrugged and bamphed away to go pick his spot.

The spot they were all in was far away from civilization, which was why he came along. There was no place to stretch his wings in the city without either being labeled as a mutant freak or being fallen upon by the religious hopefuls because he looked like some sort of savior. And he had been longing to fly up and away into the sky.

If only for a short while. And at the time, when Xavier had offered him the chance to go on a secluded camping trip, he had jumped at the opportunity. 

What was he thinking?!

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"Is the tent supposed to be in the tree?"

"Uh…yeah! It'll be a tree tent house!" Jamie said quickly and logically. Julian glanced up at the hanging tent and decided that his friend must be right. 

"Wanna go explore?" Julian asked him excitedly. The only place where there was any woods was near the Institute, but they weren't as big as these. And these were new! 

"Sure! If we go fast, we don't have to wait for Kurt and that winged guy!"

That 'winged guy' and Kurt were struggling with Kurt's tent, trying to stop the tent from collapsing in on itself. Apparently Kurt wasn't the master of engineering he had hoped himself to be.

The two friends snuck off into the forest and went down one of the hiking trails.

Julian kept his ears up just in case. Mother had always told him that animals can be really grumpy, and relying on hearing their voices wouldn't always help. He had some ability t hear voices of the animals, but his Mother's was much more potent. She heard them all the time. He could only hear if he concentrated. 

"Woof!" A disapproving bark sounded from the tree line.

"Aww man, forgot about them." Julian squinted at the trees when the three dogs started loping after them. Jamie shrugged.

"So let them come with us! What's gonna happen? We're supposed to be learning about nature, right? We can just say we were curious."

"The Professor always gets upset with my Mom when she says that."

"Oh yeah….Oh well. We can just say we learned from example, like Bobby's tent-building."

"Okay." They immediately started walking again. The dogs went into a trot to catch up with them.

_Whaddaya__ think we're doing, kid?_

_Your mom wants us to take care of you, can't do that if you wander off all the time._

Cassius and Brutus always made sure that those who could hear them did. He had never had trouble hearing their voices, probably because they were convinced that everyone should listen to them. 

"I can take care of myself."

"Hunh?"

"Not you, the dogs."

"Oh. Hey, Julian, what's it like speaking to animals?"

"Uh…I can't really explain it. They all talk different. Some talk in pictures, some like them," he pointed a claw towards Cassius and Brutus, " talk like humans, sort of, and others talk in like, body language."

"Like when Jubilee is trying to catch Bobby's eye, or when Tabby is making the moves on Ray?"

"Sort of."

"What about Doggy?" Jamie asked, pointing at the massive gray dog.

"He doesn't talk. He barks, but he doesn't talk."

"Why?"

"I dunno." Julian shrugged his shoulders.

"Oh." A few minutes passed by, then Jamie started grinning.

He lightly shoved Julian in the shoulder. "You're it! Catch me if you can!" He tore off into the trees, tripped, and then the six of him got back up and went in different directions. Julian picked one and gave chase.

"I'm gonna get you!"

"No way, you're a slowpoke!" Jamies yelled back.

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"Finally!"

The two mutants stepped back to survey their masterpiece. It was a …tent. And it was a massive accomplishment.

Angel turned to see how the two boys were doing, only to see a tent hanging half in, half out of the tree.

And the two boys nowhere in sight. 

"Oh no."

What was he thinking?!

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Like it? Hate it? Please leave your comment on the way out!


	2. He's so cute!

Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose with the exception of guppies, who like to eat theirs.   
--P. J. O'Rourke 

A/N

I thought that quote was hilarious.

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"He's so cute!"

"Yeah, I bet his mom will be happy that we found him. Don't know where she is right now, what do we do with him?"

"You can't sense her or something?"

"Naw. Mom can do that real easy. But I have to know who it is I'm looking for or know them. I might catch some other mom."

_Uh…Maybe you guys should just leave it._

"We can't leave it!" Julian protested. Brutus just gave him a disbelieving look.

_I don't think we wanna take that thing with us. If that's a baby, then how big is Mommy gonna be? And the broad may not be happy we ran off with her precious bundle of fur._

"Don't say broad. It's a bad influence on me."

_Excuse me_. Brutus said a little snarkily back.

Jamie looked curiously at the one sided, at least from his perspective, conversation between his friend and the rottweiler.

Then he was struck with a marvelous idea.

"Why don't we take him back to camp with us? He can stay there until his mom picks him up."

"Hey, great idea! Come on!" Julian beckoned a claw to the little brown bundle of fur. The animal trundled after them. 

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"Where could they be?" Angel flew up above the treetops, but was forced to stay close to the campsite. Everything looked green from where he was, and if he went to far he'd never be able to find his way back.

It figured that something horrible would happen when he tried to relax. Maybe he was doomed to live until he died as the world's most dedicated working stiff. Warren shielded his eyes from the glare of the setting sun. Kurt was searching the forest by treetop, but hadn't come up with anything.

He had been totally unprepared for this. He didn't think the two boys could travel that fast together, and then those dogs disappeared. From what the professor had said, the dogs shared some sort of link with the little furry boy, and would be watching him. But it would have helped, if these dogs were as smart as everyone said they were, if one stayed to help him find the boys!

He shook his head irratatedly and landed back in the camp site and went off in the direction that Kurt had claimed to be searching. Maybe they could split the forest in half and search.

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"Hey, where'd everybody go?"

_Probably out searching for you two.___

"Oh. I guess we should stay here then, hunh?"

The three dogs looked to Julian as if to say 'you think?' 

Jamie went to the tent Kurt and Warren had made.

"Their tent looks better than ours."

"Just because Kurt had help. We did ours ourselves!" Julian defended. Jamie agreed wholeheartedly. Then, in time honored fashion, both young mutants discovered that they were hungry.

"Let's see what Mr. Warren is cooking tonight."

"Chicken?" Julian asked innocently, which caused Jamie to burst out into laughter. He grinned at his friend's guffaws and turned to the little animal they had brought along.

"Are you hungry?"

The little creature nodded, which is an odd thing to see any animal do. Immediately Julian and Jamie rifled into the bags until they found some trail mix.

"I like the candy."

Jamie snorted. "It's the only good part. Think he'll eat nuts?"

"Yeah. Better not give him any candy though."

"Course not. We're saving that for us!" He laughed.

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A little after nightfall, incredibly down that they did not find the two boys, Warren and Kurt walked back into camp. Everything was as it should be.

Unless the trail mix everywhere and the laughing by the tent was normal.

Both of them rushed to the side of the hanging tent. Sitting there, eating the candy pieces out of the trailmix while being watched by three disapproving canines, were the two boys. 

And a baby bear.

"Where have you been? And why is there a bear in our camp!?"

"It was lost. We brought it here so it could stay with us until it's mom found us." Jamie said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Warren almost fainted. "We don't want the mother to come into the camp to claim the bear!"

"Why?"

"It's a bear! Put that cub back where it was this instance!"

"Why? His mom is almost here!" Julian commented with his mouth full of raisins.

"What?!"

"HUUUNNNHROOAAAAARRR!" 

Both Warren and Kurt screamed when the large bear hurtled for them. They took off with the bear in close quarters. 

Julian and Jamie stared at the three retreating figures.

"Why'd she do that?"

"They were between her and the cub. Mom said the worst thing you can do is threaten bear cubs when the Mom bear is around. Second worst thing is standing between her and the cubs, even if you don't know it."

"Should we be worried?"

"Nah, I heard her say to the little guy that she was gonna scare them up a tree and come back." Julian waved at the little bear cub, who was happily eating nuts and cranberries.

"Should we be worried?"

"I don't think so. If she really wanted to hurt us, she wouldn't take the time to scare Mr. Warren and Kurt up a tree."

"Cool. Hey! If they're gonna stay a night in the tree, think they'll mind if we take their tent?"

"Nah. Let's do it!"

They swiftly made themselves at home in the constructed tent. 

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"What was I thinking? Vacation, he said. Just have to watch a couple of kids, so well behaved." Warren was gritting his teeth as the tree branches swayed as the big bear pushed her head against the tree. "It would be a learning experience for all. Oh, just wait till I tell you all I've learned, Charles Xavier!"

"Maybe if we're a little quieter it vill go away!" Kurt urged from his spot. Warren wondered why he didn't just teleport away, but didn't ask. Nor did he make some irritated comment at the boy. They were in this together.

The very thought almost made him take wing, nor matter if he couldn't get out of these tree branches. He should have stayed in New York.

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Heh, I really like writing this story. This was a fun chapter to write, too……

Asteria: I will keep your hints well in mind. And I fully intend that Angel should have some phobia about going to the woods when this is all over. I'm glad you like it!

Drunk on Tang: Actually, I don't really care for much of Warren, I don't hate him, but he isn't my favorite. But it seemed like a good excuse to use a character I don't use often. I'm glad you like it!

Anon(girl): I updated, I hope you like it! Say hi to Fishy for me!

Anee/Arin Ross: Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it. Doing a story of Julian seems to make a lot of people happy!

Raliena: Heh, I guess I'll have to make a review taker for this one to, eh? I'm glad you like it!

Radical-Seto: It's not over with Warren yet by a long shot. He's going to need the pity when the boys are through. Glad you like it!

Rogue77: Heh, Thanks a bunch! I hope you like this chapter too!

Aicha: They probably did, but let it go in the hopes that they weren't the end of whatever happened. Thanks!

Chrissy: Heh, yeah, I wouldn't be there. Thanks for reviewing!

Dragonet: I can probably send him Lady Miz's way…Hope you like this chapter!

Laureate: Yeah, he is, but he'll probably grow out of it like he grows out of last month's clothes. Hope you liked this chapter too!

Kally will take the reviews in accordance to requests from the reviewers! Remember not to feed her cheese, it's bad for her to have to much.


	3. The smallest, fluffiest, most dangerous ...

A/N: This is a short chapter, sorry. But I have been very busy lately, though I am trying to keep up. 

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Nerve wracking was the best word to describe what had happened in the last few days. 

First, it was discovered that bear liked to sleep next to trees. It had taken him a day and a half to get down. Then the mother bear and her cub had left. Something he was thankful for.

Secondly, a tent disappeared. No one seemed to offer an explanation, though Jamie muttered something about deer. 

Now the small furry boy was muttering incoherently and wandering haphazardly.

"Did he eat some bad berries or something?" Warren asked Jamie. Jamie shook his head.

"He and I have just been eatin' candy. And food. We haven't eaten any berries."

"Maybe you should have." Kurt interjected. The dogs sitting beside him all looked uneasy.

"Can't we snap him out of it?"

"Snap who out of what?" Julian said suddenly, looking at them.

"Egad!" Kurt teleported over and pressed a hand to his forehead. "Ze sickness has disappeared!"

"I wasn't sick. I was being spoken to by the multitudes of beasts in the South American Rainforest in regards of several odd happenings."

"Hunh?" Kurt just stared. It wasn't often that kids start using words like 'multitudes' and 'regards'.

"I was getting a phone call from South America." Julian supplied.

"Oh. Vhat did zay say?"

"Mom is gone." He said simply. "And all the students and teachers except Mr. Logan." 

"VHAT?! VHERE!?" 

"I dunno. Gone." 

Warren shook his head. How could this kid act so calm? 

"Mom knows how to take care of herself. Mom can't die. She'll live forever."

Warren felt his heart sink. The boy had the innocence of a child, the belief that parents could never die or go away. He sometimes exhibited the ability of complete, adult rational thought, according to Xavier, but he still keeps a completely unrealistic view of the world.

He glanced at Kurt. The boy was at a total loss for words. 

"But vhat about Keety? And Scott and Jean?"

"I don't know." Julian shrugged. "But I'm sure they'll be okay. Nobody can beat the X-men!"

Kurt grinned. "Got zat right!"

Warren just stared at them. 

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"Mr. Wings, sir…uh, you don't want to sit there."

"Why?"

"Because somebody lives in that log." Julian pointed to the log he had almost had sat down on.

"Who?"

"I dunno."

After getting Kurt calmed down and convinced not to teleport back to the institute, Warren had been looking forward to a little peace. Kurt was sulking, but a phone call had been made to the Institute, and the Professor had ordered Kurt to stay with himself and the two boys, in case something should happen.

As if things hadn't happened already. They still couldn't find the other tent.

Warren paced around the log. It looked fairly safe. "Are you sure?"

"Uh…no. But I think so."

"GIVE IT BACK!" A herd of Jamies rushed through the campsite. The lead one had a bag of trail mix and the others were trying to snag it from him. 

And they were headed straight for them. Julian squeaked and clawed his way up a nearby tree. He stared at him and realized he should get away too. He hastily spread his wings-

-And was knocked over when two of the chasing Jamies tripped over their own feet and slammed into him. He fell onto the log, the wind knocked out of him. The two Jamies disappeared.  

"Uh oh." He looked up to see Julian cringing in his tree. Several Jamies were there too, staring at something on the ground.

With great misgivings, he slowly turned his head.

It was the smallest, fluffiest, most dangerous things in the forest. 

"SKUNK!"

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A/N

Ouch. That has to hurt.

Sorry for the short chapter, I have lots of stuff to do but I didn't want to leave you all in the dark. Hope you liked it!

Asteria: I used your suggestion, I thought it was pretty funny. I hope you like it. 

Chrissy: Heh, that is pretty funny. I like it! 

Anon(girl): Glad you like it! Forgive me for not updating in awhile, opefully next week will be better.

Anee: Glad you like it! Sorry for the lull in updates.

Laureate: Heh, that would be funny if she did.  Glad you liked it.

Raliena: I'm not quite sure on Goat's cheese. Maybe if she only eats a little bit. Glad you like it!

Kally will take reviews yet again! She likes salted nuts!


	4. I know you!

A/N

A slightly longer chapter, sorry for the lull in updates, I've been trying to keep on top of it!

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"You think that we can hike to a ranger station and leave Mr. Warren behind?" Jamie had his hand securely covering his nose. 

"Do you even know where it is?" Julian had his nose plugged with tissues, as his sense of smell was far better than Jamie's. It didn't seem to help.

"No, but I bet if we walked to the road we could hitchhike."

Kurt was suffering much the same way Julian was. With their superior sense of smells, staying in camp with Warren nearby had simply not been an option. 

So they were sitting on a large rock overlooking a river. But they could still smell Warren.

"How iz zis possible?!" Kurt moaned from his perch on the tree. "The smell permeates everyzing!"

"And the wind isn't even blowing." Jamie pointed out.

"It'll take forever for the smell to get out of here."

"I'm bored of the woods."

"I'm sure Warren is too." Kurt said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Can we go to the Burger Bomb?" Jamie asked hopefully.

"I left my image inducer at home." Kurt looked like he was going to cry at that statement. "The Professor said he didn't want to break it."

"This stinks."

"Literally." There was another chorus of moans from the two furry mutants.

  
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"What was I thinking?! I am never coming back to that school for as long as I live! I will put a restraining order on MYSELF to make sure I can't return!" 

Warren ranted softly to himself. He really wanted to fly out of this place and leave for somewhere nicer and less nerve wracking. Away from these kids.

Alaska. He always heard Alaska was a great place to be alone. It should be just wonderful this time of year, almost spring. 

Yes, that would be his dream spot. 

"How am I going to get this smell off?" He moaned outright. The stuff stuck into his clothes, his shoes, everything. His clothes he could throw away. But the stench would not remove itself. 

"Perhaps we should cut this vacation short. I was never made for Camping…yes, that's what we'll do, we'll go back. Then I'll go to a nice cabin far, far away, and stay there until this horrid smell comes off!"

Warren stood up and went off in the direction of the children with a new purpose. 

However, when he got there, they were nowhere to be found.

"Where are they?!"

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"Man, I don't know if that's supposed to happen. Is it supposed to get stronger?" Jamie asked his friend.

"I dhuno." Julian snuffled. His blocked nose was starting to make him sound stuffy.

"I hope Kurt's back soon. How long does it take to find a place that doesn't stink?"

Kurt bamphed in not two feet away. "Zere is a road back there, a cabin and a car, I bet zey have some food. Jamie, you go in first."

"Alright, food!" Jamie rushed off in the direction that Kurt gestured with Julian following close behind.

Because of the proximity of the skunk to camp, food in the camp had become totally uneatable. They had all given up when they smelt the food. 

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The cabin the car was parked beside was barely standing, more of a shack than a living house.

But this was ignored by Jamie, who trotted up and knocked right on the door.

"Hey! Anybody home?!"

A few minutes of silence, then the door slowly opened to reveal a man in a long trench coat and a wide brimmed hat standing with one arm hidden behind him. The other arm was on the handle of the door.

"What do you want, kid?"

"I had a horrible accident, and I have nothing to eat-"

"That's nice." He was about to close the door.

"Wait! Don't you have any food to spare for me and my friends?"

"Friends?" The question was guarded and tense.

Julian, hidden in the underbrush with Kurt, twitched his ears, trying to remember where he saw the man before. Then it him. He jumped straight up into the air. "I KNOW YOU!"

The man jerked out his other hand, revealing the gun he had hidden in the folds of his coat. He had been ready to shoot at the furry mutant. He seemed to stare at the mutant for a moment, then realized who he was.

"You're her son."

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"So why are you living in zis shack?"

Arcane didn't answer the furry blue mutant. He really didn't like to answer questions about himself all that much. 

The two boys were eating away at what meager rations he had. Basically a couple emergency TV dinners. He didn't really mind, though. He didn't really like those two types anyway, it saved him from eating them.

The furry blue one, Kurt was his name, shrugged at his silence and wandered around, eating the last of his food, a couple of carrots. 

He was prepared to throw them out, but if these kids were hungry enough to eat them, that was fine with him.

"So have you seen Mom lately?" 

The little mutant Danny had brought back with her was much larger than he remembered. And much more aware of the world in general. He seemed to have that same strange gift his mother had of being aware of something he couldn't hear. 

"I saw her once. This winter."

"When she went to see Great Grandma? Did you see Great Grandma? What she like?"

"Interesting."

"Oh. How so?"

"…."

"You don't talk a lot do you?"

"…"

"Oh. Hey, you wouldn't mind if we stayed here, would you? I mean, Mr. Warren really stinks."

Arcane titled his head slightly towards Kurt in silent question. Kurt gave a grimace.

"He had an encounter with a skunk."

"I see…If you want to stay, you can. Just don't get in my way. And don't cause trouble."

Julian and the other boy, Jamie, plastered the looks of complete angels on their faces.

What did he just let himself get into?

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A/N

Sorry for the lull in updates, things may be getting a little crazy in the way of updating, Wizard of Oz starts next week, so I may have very sporadic updates. But after that is Spring Break, and I plan on writing lots of stuff!

Asteria: That quote is so true.

Chrissy: Well, I implemented the long distance thing in my AU, and I figure it would probably happen to him, seeming as he does have his mother's abilities, however watered down. Glad you like it!

Laureate: Girl scout cookies, yum! Actually, I do like Angel (even though he's actually on my bottom of the list of favorite  characters) I have a complex where I like them all. I can't help it. 

Anon(girl): Thank you, I'm glad you and fishy like it so. Thank you so much, I hope you enjoy it!

Raliena: That's okay. Glad you like the skunk!

Anee: Heh, glad you like it.

Aicha: Heh, yes, but the angel shall have his day, or at least drag some other poor soul down with him. 

Drunk on Tang: Thank you, that's exactly what I think of when I think about skunks. Heh, yeah, long distance would be murder.

Rogue77: Glad you liked it! Yeah, they do love their little cubs, don't they? Squirrels and bees? I suppose that would match the description as well…

Kally will take reviews! She wanted me to ask for internet rat toys (apparently she has too much food!).


	5. Mr Wings Stinks

A/N

Hey everybody, I'm back! And feeling good! In fact, so good, that I may update more than one thing today! Yes, I'm back in business and writing up a storm, or maybe just a wind gust. A light breeze? A drizzle? Who knows? However, as a side note, the musical that stopped me from writing went very well, though I may never forget the dialog of the Wizard of Oz EVER again, and the songs shall be with me as long as I hum to myself mentally. Which may be forever. Another note, I'd like to thank all of you for being patient with me, I know how much it stinks to have an author suddenly stop their stories for weeks at a time,  and I apologize for that. But I talk too much and am in danger of breaking my solemn code not to bore people with long, useless author notes. Therefore, on with the chapter!

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"Mom said that guns were bad unless you knew how to use them responsibly."

"Is that so." Arcane finished putting together his newly cleaned gun. He had been sitting at his desk cleaning when the little mutant had popped up and started talking.

"I heard Jubilee say that mom has a thing for guys that can shoot. Does she have a thing for you?"

Arcane was seriously considering the risks of throwing these mutants out. So far, they were acceptable. All he had wanted was a little break from wandering. It had been a rough few weeks, not to mention that the usual bunch of thugs had tried to pick a fight with him earlier in the week. He got tired messing around with amateurs, so every once in awhile he took a break and disappeared for a few weeks, just to be alone.

 The young furry mutant was looking at him with curious eyes.

"But Jubilee also says that Jean has a thing for one-eyed guys. I don't know any one-eyed guys. How can Jean have a thing for them if there are none around?"

Unfortunately, alone seemed to be a flexible word.

The little mutant suddenly tipped his head to the side pensively.

"Do you have a thing for my mom? What is a 'thing'?"

"Why don't you go talk to some animal or something?" Arcane growled. 

"Why doesn't anybody tell me these things? It's like Bobby when I asked him what he was reading."

"What?" 

"He blushed and said it was a gaming magazine. Do gaming magazines usually have women on the front?"

Arcane just stared at him. The words coming out of his mouth just didn't seem to fit him. 

"As interesting as this conversation is, I have no answers for you."

"If I get Jamie to ask you, will you tell him?"

"No. Now go away."

"Oh." He looked a little crestfallen. Then he lifted his ears. "Somebody's coming. I think it's Mr. Wings."

"Who?"

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"Open up!" Warren banged on the door, panicking. The tracks he had followed, thank whoever he took that hunting class when he was younger, until he had ended up at this old shack.

If they weren't here, he didn't know where to look.

"Open up!" There was no answer. "OPEN UP!"

The door suddenly opened. "What?"

He only glimpsed the man in the trench coat briefly before the door slammed in his face. A muffled voice sounded through the door.

"You are not coming in here smelling like that."

"I'm looking for a few kids that I'm supposed to be watching, they wandered off!"

"Can you blame them?"

"That is not the point! I've been going through intense amount of torture to give these kids an 'outdoor experience' and let them learn about the forest. You know what's happened to me? I was chased up a tree by a bear! One of the tents is missing, I was sprayed by a skunk, and on top of that I've had to deal with the three worst troublemakers at the Institute! Xavier, you have no idea how much I want to thank you for this wonderful experience!"

"Then leave and go thank him." A spray of water hit Warren hard and he turned to see his attacker covering his mouth and nose and holding a hose. That just happened to be turned on full blast.

"What was that for?!" Warren asked, enraged. He got sprayed right in the face.

"The stench."

"I hate you."

"Must be a record. We've only seen each other for two minutes. Usually it takes five to make a lasting impression." 

His attacker had a hat on covering his features and a trench coat, even though it had to be seventy degrees.

"Who are you?"

"You first."

"On what grounds?"

"The fact that this is my house, at least for now."

"Fine. My name is Warren. Warren Worthington the Third. Have you seen the kids I've been looking for?"

"Two furry ones and ones that keeps making multiples of himself? They invaded my house. They're probably still in there."

"I have to talk to them immediately-ACK!" Another blast of water hit him in the face.

"You aren't going into that shack until you don't stink. I want to stay there for another few weeks."

"Fine, FINE! Stop spraying me in the face."

His attacker shut off the hose, still covering his nose and face. Warren suddenly realized he didn't get the man's name.

"What is your name?"

"Call me Arcane, everyone does."

"An odd moniker."

"Whatever. You step a foot into my house before the smell is gone and I'll shoot you. Got it?"

"Yes." Warren said grudgingly.

"Good. There's a river back there you can bathe in, I'm sure you passed it on the way."

"Cause of my problems…"

"I thought Xavier was the one you wanted to thank."

"Him too." Warren stalked off towards the river.

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"Zat's funny, he didn't ask if we were okay." Kurt commented from his perch on the roof. He had teleported there when Warren had gotten a safe distance away.

"If I were in his position, I wouldn't either." The older man commented below as he tossed the hose back to wherever it came from.

"Vhy not?"

"You'll learn a hard lesson when you finally get to be in the company of yourself when you get older."

"Vhat's zat supposed to mean?"

"It's an awful curse for just about everyone." The older man walked back into his house.

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A/N

Heh, poor Warren. And pretty soon it'll be poor Arcane, unless he plays it smart.

Asteria: Well, I figure everyone needs a break from their job, so I guess in a way he's on vacation. Kally thanks you for the music! 

Raliena: Don't like rats? Oh well. She thanks you for the toy anyway. Glad you love the story!

Laureate: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, because I want  to see them too. Anyway, I'm glad you're so happy to see Arcane again, and I hope you liked the chapter! And thanks for the eggs, I love Reeses's!

Anon(girl): Don't let the dudes get you down. Kally thanks you, and I hope you like this chapter.

Aicha: That's horrible! I certainly hope that your day got better. Glad you like it!

Chaotic Dreamer: Thank you very much, I hope you like this chapter as much as the others!

Chrissy: Yep, it should be quite interesting. I wonder how long he'll last? Anyway, Kally thanks you for the trampoline! Glad you like the story1

Rogue77: Sorry, no bees or squirrels yet, but I'll try to get it in there, should be quite funny.

Anee/Arain Rowan/Arin Ross: And believe me, I'm glad to see you back! Even though you've been back for awhile. Anyway, I hope Anee is back to normal, or at least something resembling it. Wow, I did not know about St. Jude. I mean, I heard of them, but I didn't know what they did. Learn something new everyday, eh?

Kally would like to thank everyone for the food and toys! She will take the reviews today.


	6. Enter the Squirrel

A/N

Wow, the updates are just popping up again and again! I was worried with a few weeks off I'd come back and be absolutely corroded (or rather, really rusty) with my writing and it would come out horrible, but some parts are actually getting better! Err, well, in my point of view. Anyway, here's another chapter!

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"Wow, he doesn't stink anymore." Jamie whispered to his furry friend. Julian wrinkled his nose.

"He still does a little."

"Why did you all run off?"

Julian and Jamie stood beside Kurt as they received their lecture. Warren was soaking wet, unable to stay in the water for another four hours. Arcane was leaning back on a chair, giving a nonchalant air.

"No offense, mein freund, but you stunk! We couldn't stay there any longer!"

"I am supposed to be watching you! You didn't even leave a note!"

"We're sorry." Jamie put on an innocent look. That always seemed to work. And he used that to his full advantage.

"I bet you are." Arcane commented lazily. His hat was tipped down to hide his expression.

"I am!" He shot a glare off in the man's direction before turning the charm on in front of Angel.  "We're really sorry and we'll never do it again, but we'll understand if you want to go back to the Institute, Mr. Warren." He tried not to look too hopeful.

"No, we'll stay. You seem sorry enough." Darn. The winged guy took it the wrong way.

"Oh thank you." He said with a certain lack of enthusiasm. It hadn't worked out the way he planned.

"Now, shall we go back to the woods?"

"Let's stay here, I mean, I don't think Mr. Arcane will mind." He said evilly. They all looked at Arcane, who seemed to be considering the offer.

"No."

"Why not?" Jamie asked innocently.

"I come here to specifically get away from people like you. What makes you think I want you to stay?" 

"Please? You can't throw us out, we'll have nowhere to go! Our campsite still smells like skunk!"

"Tell me which part of that is my problem."

"Because if something happens to us, it'll be on your conscience for ever and ever and ever and ever—"

"If you keep this up, none of you will worry about anything again."

"How do you live with yourself? Threatening poor impressionable children like us, you should be ashamed!"

"I am. But the answer still is no."

"How do you get up in the morning?" Jamie demanded, acting outraged while the rest of them just stared.

"It's a continuous struggle."

"What will everyone think? When they hear about what you've done?"

"It's the woods. Fresh air is good for you."

"What will everyone at the institute say?"

"I can't say I care."

"Okay…"Jamie ran through a mental list of all that happened at the Institute in the last few months, then hit on something. "What would Danny say?"

"Are you looking to get shot, kid? Is this some bizarre way to commit assisted suicide?"

"I only want shelter and food, that is my only desire."

"If you shut up, leave me alone and don't wreck up this place, I'll let you stay." He growled. "But if we have another conversation like this, you can forget about ever leaving the woods."

"Oh thank you! You're our hero!" He stepped forward.

"Hug me and I swear I'll shoot you."

That stopped him in his tracks. But at least he didn't have to sleep outside.

That was a plus.

**^^*^*^*^*^*^**^^*^*^*^**^^*^*

Kurt sat by the window. There were three windows in this entire place, and it certainly wasn't the burger bomb or the Institute, but it didn't smell like skunks, so it was all good. Well, except for Warren's lingering trace of skunk smell. It was probably a good thing that this Arcane guy didn't have sensitive smell or Warren may have never gotten in.

It was interesting, he knew that Arcane was at the Institute before, but any real remembrance of the man was totally lost on him accept for this odd feeling of déjà vu. It must be part of his mutation.

As he stared out the window, something brown came streaking through the grass towards it. His eyes widened as the squirrel leapt right at his face and banged into the glass window, hanging there for a second before dropping into the grass, stunned.

"Vhat the…"

"That happens everyday."

Kurt whipped his head around to see Arcane sipping from a chipped coffee mug. "That's why I always keep that window closed."

"It just vruns into the window?"

"Yes. After awhile you don't notice it as much." He took another sip from the mug and turned to walk away. "If I was you, I wouldn't leave any coffee outside. It's not really worth it."

"Coffee?" Kurt wondered aloud. There was a loud thunk as the squirrel hit the glass again.

"What about coffee? What's with that squirrel?" Jamie asked as he and Julian walked in. Julian twitched his nose at the squirrel's odd antics.

"I think that squirrel may be senile. Or he's not old enough, maybe he's just crazy. I can't make out what he's saying."

"Arcane told me not to leave coffee outside, because it vasn't vorth it."

"Okay. What isn't?"

"He didn't say." He told Jamie. Jamie shrugged.

"How does he expect to keep us in line with that kind of reasoning?! We don't listen to Angel what makes him think that we'll listen to him?"

"Zhen vhat are we vaiting for? Coffee break!" It was stupid, really, to do something that a guy who cleans guns on a regular basis told you not to do, but he was curious about coffee. What would happen if you left it outside? And how did Arcane know this?

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"It's a good thing we closed all the windows."

"Ve may be here for a bit."

"Ouch. That must have hurt."

The squirrel that began it all, the kamikaze squirrel, had been he first to the cup of coffee they set out. He drank the entire cup. He was now bouncing around the outside of the house, ramming into windows and doors. It wasn't just one window now, it was all three in less than five seconds. And that was very good since they were all on different sides of the house.

"What part of not worth it didn't you people understand?" Arcane asked in passing as he moved to a different part of the house. Not that would drown out the thumping sounds as the squirrel hit the side of the house.

"You tell me these things and you don't expect me to try it out?" Kurt called after him.

"When's he gonna stop?" Jamie asked Julian. The furry boy shrugged.

"When he gets tired, I guess."

"When will that be?"

"I dunno."

"Wanna go play a game?"

"Like what?"

"How 'bout I Spy? You go first Kurt."

"I spy something brown."

**_THUNK!_**

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A/N

Ow. Funky squirrel.

Asteria: Heh, don't worry, I don't mind, I'm actually a fan of Trigun myself (have all the episodes!). Arcane really probably doesn't care. He usually has a handle on things around him. Glad you like Julian's questions! Hope you like the chapter!

Aicha:…Vor? Who's that? Eh. Hope this chapter is a bit longer for your tastes, I try my best to keep them a good length. Thank you very much!

Arain Ross/Anee: Yes. Poor Arcane. Heh. But it'll be fun watching what makes him tick, no? We all already know he doesn't care for horses, what else could ruffle his feathers? Hope you like the chapter!

Anon(girl): Well, another update, just like you asked. Hope you like it. Heh. Your 'dudes' are going to break something if they aren't careful. And it might be themselves. I'm glad you and Fishy like my work!

Kally will take the reviews today! Err, perhaps it would be best not to give her coffee, either…


	7. Swarm

A/N

Three updates in one day! I've never been so proud of myself.

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"Is it dead?"

"I don't know."

"Julian?"

"It isn't. It's still breathing and saying weird stuff."

"What kinda weird stuff?"

"He…he…I can't put it into words, it's hard to translate." Julian twitched his nose. The big squirrel was lying flat out in front of the three of them. It must have knocked itself out a couple minutes earlier. They had ventured out of the house when the loud noises had stopped.

Julian ventured forward and picked the squirrel up. It mumbled something incoherently and twitched. "Let's take it inside and give it a drink, he looks thirsty."

"Absolutely not." Arcane's voice broke in, scaring all three of them. "If you want to give the squirrel a drink, take it down to the river.

"It smells like a skunk over there!" Jamie whined. Arcane looked nonplussed. 

"So take it somewhere else. I don't really care where you take the animal, just don't take it inside the cabin." He walked off.

Julian twitched his nose again, this time in exasperation. It wasn't as if he couldn't calm the squirrel down…well, he might not be able to, and that may be a bad thing. The squirrel really wasn't all there, and it would be bad if he started freaking out indoors.

Would keep them occupied for a few hours though. But as it was, he was still kind of worried about the person who was watching them and Arcane, they might not take it as lightly as he and the other boys would.

That would be a bad thing too.

"Let's go down to the river, there must be someplace it doesn't smell like a skunk."

"I hope so, my nose can't take much of that, Ja?"

"Think Mr. Wings will let us?"

"Of course he will. Besides I'm vith you. What could go wrong?" Kurt asked. 

^*^*^*^**^^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^^

What indeed?

Kurt stumbled through the weeds to get to a bogged down part of the river. It was the only place that didn't smell like a skunk. Unfortunately, it smelt a lot like something else that he didn't care to name.

"Hurry up Kurt, get us some water!"

"Just a minute, you think this is so easy, you do it!"

"No way! It stinks!" Jamie yelled back, grinning. Kurt vowed never to allow those two monsters to coerce him into stuff like this again, even if he had the need to get away from grown up supervision.

He cupped a little water into his hands and teleported back to the two younger mutants. Julian held the squirrel so that it could taste the water. It immediately started drinking. When it was finished, Julian put the squirrel down. Kurt felt a wave of gladness when the squirrel acted like a real, normal squirrel, twitching it's cute little nose and sitting up on its haunches.

This lasted for about a minute.

"Take cover!" The small brown juggernaut began pinging off of trees, barely touching the bark.

"What kind of drug is that squirrel on?" He yelped as it went sailing over his head. There was a mushy sounding thump, and he turned to see the squirrel scrambling out of a dead tree before it shot off into the forest.

"What was that?" Jamie asked as he dusted of his shorts. "That squirrel is totally insane."

"Uh…guys? Do you hear that buzzing sound?" Julian picked up his ears. Now that he mentioned it, he could hear buzzing too, which soundly awfully familiar to…

"BEES!"

They came swarming out of the dead tree, intent on destruction.

"Run for it!"

^*^*^*^**^^***^^*^*^*

Arcane flipped through his newspaper with  little to no interest. The same old news dotted every page. Anti-mutant and pro-mutant rallies. Murder of a famous official. A famous couple had a baby, another famous couple broke up. A billionaire's getaway for a vacation, with absolutely no true details in the entire story. 

He briefly wondered how Warren felt knowing he was on some sandy beach cruise miles away from work with a beautiful woman on each arm.

The three large dogs were sitting in the room with him, each eyeing him out of the corner of their eyes. It was almost a test of will, to see if he would lose his cool. 

He glanced down the obituaries to see of anyone he knew was there. There were none today.

"AHHH! AHHH! AHHH!"

Of course, tomorrow may be an entirely different matter.

He folded his newspaper with practiced ease and took it and his coffee with him as he walked over to the door. The three kids would be bursting through it at anytime.

"What's going on!?" Warren burst out of nowhere. Arcane half thought he'd left, but apparently his sense of duty was greater than his urge to run as far away from the death trap as possible.

"Nothing that won't be discovered once I open the door." He opened the door, and all three kids shoved him aside as they barreled their way in.

Leaving him almost face to face with an entire swarm of bees. He slammed the door shut fast. Bees bounced off the outside of the door. He quickly locked it. 

"OUCH!" Julian's anguished cry broke the small silence that they had.

He turned to see Julian holding his tail. The boy's eyes were brimming with tears.

"They're coming up through the floor!" Kurt's panicked voice called out. Indeed, there were several large bees crawling up through a crack in the floor.

"I never had any of these problems until after I met all of you." He grumbled as he began stepping on bees. A few of them took flight and Jamie and Kurt took off to another part of the house. Warren took off his shoe and began to deal with the insects with a little more than needed vigor. 

A nasty pain under his coat caused him to swat his arm hard, killing the insect that had strayed up his coat. Warren seemed to have the insects well under control, so he decided to move to another part of the house. As an afterthought, he came back and pulled Julian off with him. 

Warren was having a little too much of a personal score to settle. 

"You okay, kid?"

"My tail really hurts."

"Just a sec." He walked into the kitchen with Julian in tow, put his coffee and newspaper on the table, and began opening and shutting cupboards, until he found what he was looking for. He placed the baking soda on the counter and pulled out a very old bowl, barely held together. While Warren was still engaging in his personal war, Arcane heated up a little water and mixed the baking soda with it.

"Rub some of that on your tail, it'll make the swelling go down." He left the bowl in front of the boy and took off his coat and threw it over a chair. On his arm was a very nasty red spot, and the very dead insect. He flicked the insect off and helped himself to a little of the salve.

"Wow, Mr. Wings doesn't really like bees, does he?"

"I'm not entirely sure the bees are the problem." He commented dryly as the swarm was given its full beating.

"Then what is the problem?"

"You kids are the problem." He said, a little annoyed.

"Why are we a problem?"

He stared at the boy for a moment. A second later, it dawned on the boy, and his ears drooped.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it." He said after a moment. "Some people are just accident prone."

"I got you, you little winged monstrosity!"

"And some people are just walking advertisements for stress management." Arcane commented as he glanced over in Warren's general direction. Picking up his discarded newspaper, he opened it again to obituaries. He reached for his coffee and was about to take a sip from it when he noticed the small winged creature in it. 

"Damn."

"What?" Julian asked.

"There's a bee in my coffee."

"Uh…protein?"

"I'm not that deficient." He walked over to the sink and poured the cup out. When the bee attempted to rise into the air, he smacked it with the newspaper. 

"Good riddance. Damn. Now I have to get a new newspaper." He tossed the paper into the trash and sat back down.

"Warren is taking care of the bees for us!" Jamie commented cheerfully as he walked in. "And Kurt and I didn't get stung!"

Kurt walked in soon afterwards looking nervously behind him. "I don't like bees."

"Die you little—Ouch! It stung me!"

"Apparently Warren doesn't care for them much either." Arcane commented smugly.

"Maybe you should make up more of this baking soda stuff…"

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Perhaps they should indeed…

Anon(girl): Well, I hope you like this chapter as much as the other ones, and unfortunately I don't have a number for MIB, but I have this nifty shield you can borrow, it stops most flying objects.

Asteria: I don't know, I heard skunk smell clings to fur pretty bad. I'm glad you liked the squirrel bit!

Chaotic Dreamer: Glad you liked it!

Chrissy: Kally thanks you. Heh, that is a pretty funny mental picture. Hope you like this chapter1

Aicha: You weren't offending. But sometimes I can't tell if people are being offending, so I try to keep the idea that I shouldn't be offended by anything. Anyway, I'm glad you thought it was so funny. I hope you liked this chapter too!

Arin Ross: That question may never be answered, though I wonder myself.  I'm glad you liked that chapter so much, hope you like this chapter too!

Kally will take the reviews yet again! Watch out, there still may be bees around…


	8. The Return of The Responsible Adults

A/N

Well, sorry for the lull in updates on this one, I've been trying my best to keep my updates on time, but it's been difficult. But I'm trying!

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He had only planned to walk outside for a minute, to see if the car was still working. He had notoriously bad luck with cars, probably because he always got the cheapest ones. He always had to ditch them after awhile, as they became useless, traceable, or just broke down. He looked under the hood. He'd become an expert at fixing up old cars to squeeze whatever miles he could get out of them.

Something passed overhead and blew up a gust of wind, throwing sand, sticks, and leaves into his face. He jerked his hat down and closed his jacket against the onslaught ducking away as the hood of the car slammed shut.

"What in…" He looked over his shoulder and saw the large jet making a landing behind the shack. 

He stayed still for a moment, his hat still overshadowing his face. He wondered if he had ticked off some sort of angry deity that was determined to make sure his life was as difficult as possible. 

Then he saw Logan round the building and knew he was in deep trouble.

"YOU!" Out came those claws and Logan charged full tilt at him.  Arcane immediately shot his hand into his coat and brought out his gun just as Logan stepped into slashing range. 

"Stop! Both of you!" 

His gun had been aimed towards the center of Logan's body mass when he realized he couldn't move his arms anymore. And the Wolverine's claws were lightly digging into his side.

"We are not here to start fights, Wolverine. Arcane, we will not harm you." The old man in the wheelchair came up beside them. He was clearly straining to keep them from killing each other, though Arcane had doubts that one shot would take down Logan. Serious doubts.

"Put away your claws Wolverine. From what I can gather from the stray thoughts I've been hearing, Arcane has not harmed the students in any way, he's actually been helping them. Arcane, we only came to talk with the students, there is no need to be alarmed for your life, put the gun down." The Professor ordered them. Logan looked furious, and Arcane surely didn't want to put his gun down if Logan was still looking at him that way. He would find his own place on the obituaries.

"Logan, please." The Professor persisted.

Logan slowly withdrew his claws. Arcane allowed his gun to drop. He also started thinking some foul things and was glad that telepaths had trouble reading his mind, though with as much as he was thinking, he'd be surprised if this one didn't pick up on some of it.

"Is Julian inside your house, Arcane?"

"I don't know. Don't you know? I would assume you being a telepath; you'd keep track of these things." Arcane holstered the gun into the shoulder holster underneath his jacket and turned back to the car. He heard Logan snarl something unintelligible and go stomping off towards the shack. 

"We apologize for inconveniencing you, Arcane." The professor commented before wheeling away.

"I'm glad someone is." He said offhandedly as he pulled the hood back up. It creaked in protest and he mentally cursed as he noticed the way the hood sat. He'd have to fix it if he wanted the hood to close correctly. 

This was not the wonderfully quiet solitude he had hoped for.

"XAVIER! YOU HAVE A LOT TO ANSWER FOR!" Warren shouted.

Not at all.

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Julian looked curiously from just inside a doorway as the Professor and Mr. Logan tried to calm the winged man down. He was furious about something, and his blonde hair was a mess.

"You left me in the woods and you didn't tell me what I was getting into!"

"Now Warren, let's be reasonable here, they're only children." The Professor said consolingly.

"Only children, ONLY CHILDREN?! Do you know what I've been through? I wish I could show you. I wish you could have been in my place!"

"What's yer problem bub? They couldn't a'been too much trouble."

"Oh, you'd think that, wouldn't you? But then they start disappearing and bringing bears back to camp and setting off skunks and swarms of bees and squirrels and—"

"Warren, please calm down, I know the students are a bit difficult to deal with, but we're here to help now."

"Fine. Then I'm going back to New York!" The winged man flung his wings open with a purpose.

"Wait! We still need your help, and I promise, we will help take care of everything. You can relax now, we will only need you for a few more days, I promise."

The winged man seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then he sighed. "I must be insane to stay."

"I'll say." Mr. Logan snickered low enough so the winged man couldn't hear him. But he could hear Mr. Logan just fine.

"What's going on?" Jamie and Kurt appeared at his side.

"The Professor and Mr. Logan are here and they were talking to that winged guy."

"Is Warren staying?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah."

"I woulda thought he'd cut out."

"Me too, but the Professor said he needed him." Julian said back.

"Children, please come here." The Professor beckoned them. Julian was a little taken aback that he knew they were there, but stepped forward anyway.

"Julian, I came here to see you about the students who disappeared."

"I don't know where they went." Julian shrugged his shoulders.

"No, but I believe you can find out and we can discover what we can do to hel—"

_THUNK!_

"Squirrel's back." Kurt said as he looked at the window. Mr. Logan and The Professor both stared at the window for a minute.

"Well…" The Professor said uncertainly for a minute, then shook his head. "As I was saying, I believe you can communicate with the animals and find out if there's anything we can do to help our missing teammates."

"I dunno. I don't think that it'll work the way you think it will." Julian shook his head. "I don't know if I'll be able to tell you what they're saying."

"I only ask that you try."

_THUNK!_

"What is with that rodent?" Mr. Logan growled.

"He's crazy." He told him. Mr. Logan just gave him a funny look.

"Where are the dogs?" The Professor asked.

"Cassius and Brutus said they were going out to find food, and Doggy didn't say anything, he just left."

"You understand the dogs well. Can you use them to decipher what the animals are saying?"

"Maybe. I don't know, I'll have to ask them."

"So….Can we go to the Burger Bomb?" Jamie asked hopefully. Mr. Logan shook his head.

"You kids want food, you're going to have to live of the land. And I'll teach you."

"Cool. When do we start?"

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Oh dear. Something tells me that none of the parties know exactly what they're getting into.

Asteria: Heh, Thank you, I thought it was pretty funny when I wrote it, and I'm glad other people share my sense of humor. I'm glad you liked it!

Anon(girl):Well, At least you know when they sleep. It gives you an edge, no? And Fishy helps too. Anyway, glad you liked the chapter!

PrincessofWildfire: Thank you very much. I'm glad you hold my writing to such a high standard, it really makes me very happy!  I hope you like this chapter as well!

Chrissy: *shudders* Don't care for bees and I especially don't care for wasps. I've been stung by the latter several times. And the one time with the former was pretty nasty too. I'm glad you liked the chapter! I hope you like this one too, and I'm glad you liked that exchange. 

Kally will take the reviews again! And watch out for that squirrel, he may get into the coffee.


	9. Survival Training and Time Lags

A/N

Sorry about not updating, I had lots of stuff to do. Sorry! But I do try, and I'm going to do my best to update more regularly, no that I don't have the pressing weight of Hamlet essays on my time.

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The little bat twitched his nose a bit as he watched everyone else. The room was appropriately darkened for his eyes. Julian sat in a chair across from him imitating the smaller animal's nose twitches to amuse himself. 

His mother's bat friend popped up every now and then to 'chew the fat' as Mr. Logan said, but usually Herman stayed in a cave in the woods outside the Institute. Herman kept an eye on things at night and let Mother know if anything was going on. The pigeon flocks took care of the day, and some other animals. During winter though, there weren't many awake animals, so Mom tended to look a little more alert. 

_What's this about? Bout?_

Julian shrugged his shoulders. The little bat twitched his ears in annoyance. He didn't care to be carried off by large mutants that spoke loudly into ship that rocked and flew like it was a drunk bat. And he made everyone within five miles realize that with a vengeance. Anyone who could understand him, anyway.

"Now Julian, you know this animal, correct?"

"Yes, Professor. It's Herman. He sleeps in Mom's closet sometimes."

"Good. Now, listen carefully. What I want you to do is ask Herman," he gestured to the small winged mammal, "if he would be willing to communicate with the other animals and ask them some questions."

"Okay." Julian said a little uncertainly. He didn't know how an animal would react to him asking such things. They were alright around his mother, but sometimes he felt they only accepted him because of her, in a way. He propped his chin up with his hands and concentrated on the little mammal. 

(They want me to ask you something.)

_Go on. On. _

(They want to ask if you'd be okay with talking to the other animals, and ask them some questions about stuff that's been happening.)

_I see. See._ The bat tipped his head to the side in full view of everyone in the room. 

Besides himself, there was the Professor, Kurt, Mr. Logan, Mr. Wings and Jamie. Arcane was in the next room, reading the newspaper again. The kitchen, that was. They were in the living room, or whatever the main room was called. 

_I am not sure that would be a good idea. Not sure._

(Why not?) He asked, curiosity getting the better of him.

"Julian?" The Professor asked.

"He said it might not be a good idea."

"Can you ask him why?"

"I did. But you interrupted." He protested. 

_We don't think his way. His way._

"He says they don't think your way." Julian said before the Professor could apologize.

"Can they just try?" The professor pressed.

_Yes._

"Yes." Julian said, surprised. Obviously Herman had some inkling about human language, or at least human behavior.

"Fine. Ask him about the strange occurrences happening in the South America jungles and about the strange beings that disappeared after the conflict and kidnapped the X-men and your mother, and why they didn't think it necessary to leave Wolverine behind, and—"

"Hunh?" Julian said, utterly confused. So many questions, it was hard for him to know which one to ask first.

"Ask him what those things were in the jungle, kid." Wolverine growled.

_Speaking too loud.__ Loud. Woke me up and carried me off. Off. No manners at all. All._  Herman's grumbling reached his mind as the bat flattened his ears down and looked away from Mr. Logan.

"He's upset with you." Julian told the older mutant. Mr. Logan cocked an eyebrow but said nothing.

(What were the things in the jungle? That carried away the students and Mom. And what were they doing, and where have they taken the students and Mom?)

Herman twitched his nose thoughtfully then looked up, as if communicating. Then he curled up into a ball.

_Answer in two days. Days._

Oops. Maybe they should have taken that into account, he realized.

"Uh…it's gonna take a few days to get the answers you want." He grinned nervously.

"What?" Mr. Logan deadpanned.

"There's a …um…time lag. Sorry."

"Now what're we gonna do?" Mr. Logan growled.

"Vell, I don't know about you all, but I'm hungry!" Kurt interjected swiftly.

"Are you now?" Mr. Logan smirked. Immediately Kurt shut up. Julian looked at them in confusion. 

"We'll try again tomorrow, Julian. Thank you." The Professor steepled his hands and looked out the window.

"Come on kid, you're gonna learn about survival." Mr. Logan beckoned him.

Immediately Julian hopped off the chair he'd been sitting in and followed Mr. Logan.

^*^**^**^**^*^*^*^*^*^^**^*^^**^^*

"That doesn't look like a burger." Jamie said slowly to Julian. Julian grimaced in response. Mr. Logan was holding out the body of a dead caterpillar.

"Protein helps you survive. Bugs are protein. Can anyone tell me the obvious answer to the question, 'how do I survive if I'm in the woods?'"

"Eat bugs?" Kurt said hesitantly.

"Here you go, you're first. Congratulations." Mr. Logan handed Kurt the dead green caterpillar.

"Can't I just eat mushrooms?" Kurt was starting to look a little green, or as green as he could. 

"I'll show you how to pick out good mushrooms next lesson. This is this lesson. Eat up."

"We have a jet! Why don't we go to the Burger Bomb restaurant or something?" Kurt sounded desperate.

"The part of this lesson is you don't have a jet. You're all alone and you need food. These skills will save your life one day, elf, might as well learn them now."

"If Kurt dies, I say we make a run for it and live like wild men in someplace like Georgia." Jamie whispered to his furred friend. Julian quickly nodded.

Kurt winced and put the caterpillar in his mouth and swallowed. Then he seemed to be alright, then he doubled over and spat out the caterpillar, choking and spitting out the legs.

Both Julian and Jamie stared. Mr. Logan picked up a large flying insect and beckoned them.

Julian flattened his ears down. "Georgia. Let's go."

*^*^*^*^*^^*^*^*^^*^^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^^**^

Heh, okay, not as funny as the other chapters, sorry, but I'll get back on track, promise.

Asteria: Yep, Trauma is well on the way. Glad you liked it!

Anon(girl): I'll keep that in mind. Sorry about the resistances they built up, maybe you should slip them nutmeg? Anyway, glad you liked the chapter.

Chrissy: Kally thanks you for the seeds. Heh, Arcane will be having some trouble. Some of the other mutants may show up. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!

Anee/Arain Rowan/Arin Ross : I love oreos. But boxes of it are dangerous. Hope you liked this chapter!

PrincessOfWildfire: I can't either. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter!

Laureate: Well, it's not exactly going to be a cross. Julian isn't going to suddenly go to the world Danny is in, or anything, at least I don't plan on taking him there. Glad you liked the story!

 Kally will take the reviews yet again. In spirit of the moment, she's giving out bug shaped cookies(no bugs were harmed in the making of these cookies).


	10. Salespeople

A/N

I know, it's been about three weeks since I updated this story. I know you probably know that I'm going to say sorry, but here it is: I'm sorry. I really have been trying, but as some of you well know, the last few weeks of school are doozys with homework and I've been struggling to get everything and my chores done. I'll try to do better, and probably will do better as soon as I get past these last few weeks. 

* * *

After an ill fated exercise in survival, after which Jamie and Julian had disappeared for a grand total of six hours under the pretense of gathering firewood, the amount of hysteria had died around the little shack they all were sharing with Danielle's elusive acquaintance, who was more than a little pleased that the two kids hadn't actually brought back firewood. But at the same time, it seemed he was a little put out.

Probably because if they had brought some back, he could have set fire to the shack and not have to care anymore about the X-men.

Though, whether it was because they would have no place to stay or some other reason, he didn't really know. And he didn't really care to. Arcane seemed to put up with them in only the slightest ways. Otherwise he ignored then. 

Hanging upside down by his tail, he studied the man working on his car. He didn't really seem to know what he was doing, like Herr Logan did, but he seemed to know enough to keep the car running. Which was something to be said, considering the car was total junk.

He allowed his thoughts to wonder to his other mutant friends. Roberto and Amara would be showing up again soon. They had taken a quick trip abroad, but with the information that was bouncing around and the rumors flying, they were racing back to find out what was happening, and how they could help. It made him proud, in a way, except for the fact that any help they could give was hinged on the abilities of a young boy that was currently poking his head into a hole halfway up and old oak. 

That would not end well. He could tell. It might end well for Julian, but something horrible was going to happen to whoever walked by.

Speaking of whomever…

Dust came from down the road. The dirt billowed up as a white van came unsteadily into view, obviously unused to the terrain. It screeched to a sixty mile an hour halt. The dust expanded and swept over Arcane, who seemed to be frozen in place. The car hood that he had propped up with an old metal rod moved uneasily.

Out stepped a rather frumpish woman in a suit, who was holding a basket, and smiling a fake smile. He covered his face with a three fingered hand. 

A salesperson. From somewhere. Why did they even bother coming this far out?

She walked up to Arcane, her smile even bigger than before. 

"Hello! I was wondering if you'd like some bath, body, and hair tonics and formulas in order to keep yourself healthy and good looking?"

Arcane just stared. He looked as if he didn't know what to say.

"Excuse me? Do you speak English?"

He looked as if he was seriously thinking about not speaking English.

The woman kept her fake smile plastered on, though she seemed to be twitching a little. 

"This is…just great. They send me on this job and there's not one person out here except you and you don't speak English, that's just great." She was gritting her teeth now. "They think it's very funny, sending me way out here to find some reclusive millionaire, a millionaire wouldn't live in this hole, go sell some products, it'll be a big sale." Her voice was rising now and Arcane looked like he wanted to run away or at least walk away quickly. "But is there anyone? No! Just you, some immigrant, you might even be a mutant for all I know, the way you're wearing your clothes, or else you've just watched too many movies, some Shaft wannabe. Do you understand anything I'm saying? No! Those stinking…"

About this time Arcane was trying to inch away from her, to put his car between himself and this very annoyed woman. The woman started ranting loudly, scaring birds and catching the attention of a certain furred young mutant.

"I hate them all! I'm going to quit! And they'll be sorry, because I'm the best they have!"

"Hear hear!" Julian chirped loudly. 

The woman whirled around to look at the small young mutant. Kurt froze and covered his eyes again, not out of hopelessness, but out of fear for how the woman would react.

The woman blanched and her mouth seemed to hang open for a moment. She shook her head and pushed some strands of mousy hair back.

"W-what are you?"

"I'm Julian. I'm camping." He seemed utterly innocent and angelic.

"Y-you're some kind of animal."

"Of course. So are you. Mom says that the only reason we don't usually think of ourselves as animals is because we have a shortened perspective. And she said some of us are stupid."

She looked totally speechless.

"I asked Mom once if that meant they didn't have brains. She said it was close enough, but when I asked her how they could talk without brains, she said lots of people without brains do a lot of talking. Maybe that's the problem with your coworkers?"

It looked as if the answer to all of her problems had suddenly turned into a little talking kangaroo wearing overalls with no shirt and the vocabulary of a sixteen year old with the maturity of a ten year old.

"Maybe you should be more assertive, I mean, it's always better to be assertive, Mom is more passive, but she's real assertive too, but she can get mean, but if you're assertive you can be nice and mean and it's expected of you, 'cause you're assertive. I don't know what I am. Maybe I'm passive. I dunno. But most of the people around the institute are assertive. But maybe you should tell your workers what you feel, that's all I'm saying. I gotta go now, there's a squirrel that thinks Kurt's ear is a nut, I've got to warn him…"

A sudden pain lanced through his ear, and he shouted and lost his balance, throwing off the squirrel and falling to the ground in a messy heap.

"Too late. Sorry Kurt!"

He popped his head up and glared at the little mutant. The woman just stared. She seemed unable to totally grasp the situation. Then something dawned on her. He suddenly felt a pang of fear.

She knew.

"I know what you are." She said excitedly.

Here it came.

"You're figments of my imagination! You've been sent to me subconsciously to help me with my work! Thank you! I believe in myself, I can do this!" She practically danced her way back to the van after she shoved her basket into Arcane's arms, who hadn't succeeded in getting away. The van groaned to life and did a turnaround that dented the rear end of Arcane's car. Then the van went barreling down the road.

There were several moments of silence. Then Julian's voice cut through the air.

"I would have liked to know her better."

"We all know her far too well already," Arcane said aggravated, moving around to survey the dent in his car. 

He came closer to see what damage had been done to the car. He knew Arcane couldn't be even the slightest bit pleased.

"I guess since she thought vwe vwere imagination, she didn't think about ze car, ja?"

Arcane turned around slowly to glare at him. He smiled nervously. He began to backup as the taller mutant came toward him.

"Ooph!" The force of having a basket shoved into his arms caused him to stumble back a few steps.

"Go. Away."

Immediately, he decided that mocking that man would probably be detrimental to his health and decided to leave. He was joined by Julian, who was hopping up and down trying to see what was in the basket.

"Let me see, Let me see!"

* * *

A/N

Alright, I think I'm going to start updating one chapter of Camping effect for every few chapters of Morphos Effect, because a lot more happens in Morphos per day than I can fit into Camping.

I know some of you will think this chapter isn't as funny, but bear with me, I promise I'll get better, or I'll wrap this story up earlier than Morphos, which I may do anyway.

Asteria: No, I think Logan's training is just an unfortunate side bar.

Anon(girl): Heh, me too. I've read enough books to take care of myself, but I want hot/clueless to at least have a sense of humor.

Chaotic Dreamer: It would probably end up in a road trip, that, if the Professor had hair, would make him bald from worrying.

Aicha: Well, I'm glad you liked it! Hope you aren't late today!

Raliena: No worries, I like acting like a kid sometimes, I spent most of my life acting older than I was, and I like to act like a kid now. Funny, hunh?

Laureate: I only have bug issues with two types of bugs: ticks and centipedes. The latter is the only bug that truly scares me, and the former is my idea of the worst bug to touch. Yuck is all I have to say to them. 

Anee/Arin Ross: I'm glad I could be of help. Hope you like this chapter!

Kally will take the reviews, and also hands out shampoo she got from some strange woman, if you all want it.


	11. Gone Fishin'

A/N

No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks! School is over! Summer has begun, and believe me, it couldn't have started at a better time. Sorry about no updates this week, it was finals, so I was focused on getting my tests under control. But now I'm back and hoping to update on a much more regular basis.

Oh, and for anyone who wants to read the bios I put up of some of my characters, they're on my website, which you can access from my profile page.

* * *

"Has he come up with an answer yet?"

"I'm gonna have to ask him." He rubbed his eyes to get the sleepies out. He had ran around all night with the dogs, to learn more about tracking after everyone else had fallen asleep. Well, except for Mr. Logan. Sometimes he had to wonder if that guy ever slept. He supposed he could have asked Mr. Logan to help with tracking, but he'd probably make him eat bugs first.

He and the Professor were back in the original room where they had first tried to get answers from the little bat. Many of the others were still sleeping. Probably the first good sleep they had, since he had given all the stuff the saleslady gave to Mr. Wings. He now smelt like green cut grass, or whatever that stuff was.

Careful of his sheathed claws, he rested his chin into his hands and stared at the little bat on the table, who was busy cleaning bug wings from his teeth.

_Your tracking game went well? Well?_

(Un hunh. The Professor wants to ask you if you got any information.)

_ Yes. I did. I._

(That was quick. I thought it would take longer.)

_The matter appears to have an urgent value. An urgent value._

(So what's going on?)

_The balance teetered. The small beasts came and took. Took. But it was the large one that took your mother. Mother._

(Why?)

_Small beasts come to cause destruction. Destruction. That is all._

(That's all you know?!)

_No. I know much, now. Now. But what I know, it is of no business to the mutants. No business._

(But we need to know. Everyone's worried.)

_So they should be. Be. But there will be no lost hope. Hails from another world speak of them. Them. We all forever watch them. Forever._

(But what do I tell the professor?)

_Tell him it's no business of his. His. Many do well. Well. Some will return. Some may not. _

(why?)

_Why?_

(Why are you being so cryptic? What's going on that's making everyone so tight lipped about the situation?)

_The Morphos grow agitated. Morphos. Should they hear the call, all must prepare for the worst. Worst._

(What's so important about butterflies?)

_No more I shall say. Say. Sleep beckons._

"Julian? You look disturbed." The Professor watched him closely.

"Umm…He just said that what happened to Mom and the others is none of your business. And he won't tell me, I think, because he thinks I'll tell you."

"Why is it none of my business? Did he say?"

"No. But he did say that a lot of them did well. And he said something about messages from another world."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mr. Logan growled at the doorway.

"I believe it means that the students aren't on this world anymore. However, the messages that are moving between worlds are that of beasts. Logically, I think, we could call Danny."

_It doesn't work that way for her, at least not yet. Yet._

"It doesn't work that way." He blurted out before he could stop to ask the bat what he had meant.

Both of the older mutants turned to look at him. He looked down at the floor. "That's what he said, anyway."

"Did he say anythin' else we should be aware of?"

"He said that we should be worried, but not to lose hope. But if the Morphos hear the call, we should prepare for the worst."

"What kind of a riddle is that?!" Mr. Logan growled.

_They'll know when it happens._

"You'll know when it happens."

* * *

He sat in a tree, wondering what to do now. He had thoroughly bummed out the Professor, ticked off Mr. Logan with cryptic riddles, and Arcane had managed to miraculously disappear. Kurt and Jamie were just getting up, and wondering how to get breakfast without giving Mr. Logan the opportunity to exact the bug eating course upon them.

Doggy loped around the house and padded underneath his branch and looked up. He waved down to the large grey dog, who wagged his tail in response.

"I'm kinda hungry." He said to the big canine. The dog cocked its head to the side. "But I don't want to eat bugs."

The dog thought for a moment then picked up a stick that had fallen to the ground.

"I don't want to eat wood."

The dog growled at him. He had misunderstood. He tried to think about what a stick could do for food. Some monkeys used sticks to poke ant hills to eat ants, but he already told the large dog he didn't want to eat bugs, so that probably wasn't it.

"Umm…."

"Hey Julian!" Jaime and Kurt both ran over. "What are you doing?"

"Hanging out. Trying to figure out how a stick is going to get me food."

"Fishing! Mein gott, why didn't I think of zat before?"

"Oof." Doggy thwapped his tail on the ground, happy that someone had guessed it.

"Can you speak to fish, Julian?" Jaime asked curiously.

"Mom said it wasn't a good idea to speak to anything I'm thinking about eating." He leaped off the branch and took the stick that Doggy had offered him.

"No, I mean in general. Can you speak to water animals?"

"Sometimes. It all depends on who I speak to."

"What do you mean?" Jaime asked, following Doggy, who had strode off with purpose through the woods. Both he and Kurt followed.

"It's hard to talk to some, because they're really far down there. Like in the woods in the back of the Institute, there's this pond, and at the very bottom there's these little fish, and they're hard to talk to, because they're more interested in the bottom of the lake than they are about me. What about you, when you split up into other people, what does it feel like?"

"It feels like…uh….get back to me on that, kay?"

"Kay."

"Look! Zhe river! Shall we get some fishing done?" Kurt asked enthusiastically.

"We need to get some bait! It's a good thing Mr. Logan taught us how to find them, hunh guys?" Jaime asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, if we don't catch any fish we still have food." He returned mischeviously.

"Don't zay such things! The horror of it all, I'd rather eat ze dog."

Doggy growled at him and slunk off to hide from the sun in the shade of a leaning willow.

"Do you guys know how to fish? I don't. Mom said she'd teach me sometime."

"Uh…Kurt?"

"It's easy, there's nothing to it!" Kurt said full of enthusiasm.

* * *

"It's got my tail! Get eet off! Get eet off!" Kurt screamed as he clung to the tree branch, trying to kick a very large trout off his tail.

He had run into the river to catch his pole, after Jaime accidentally tripped and fell on him. While he was untangling his line (the string had been provided by Jaime, after they realized they needed some. It turned out Jaime kept a gob of string in his pockets.) his tail dipped below the water, and turned out to be the most effective bait they had.

He had teleported out of reflex, but that only made the fish bite harder to stay on, and now he and Jaime were watching the spectacle with open eyes.

"Give some slack then reel it in!" Jaime yelled after a minute. Two other Jaime's had taken the fishing poles and were trying to fish. He was pretty sure one of them said, 'I wish I had a tail, this would be easier.'

"Show that fish whose boss Kurt!" Jaime yelled again, really getting into it. Kurt glared at him furiously.

"Maybe we should help?" He asked the other boy.

"Naw, he looks like he's got it under control. Fishing is easy, remember?"

* * *

Hope you all liked it!

Asp: Yes, it does. Hope you liked this chapter!

PrincessOfWildfire: Oooh, Chocolate crackles, yummy. Thank you very much, I hope you like this chapter as well!

Arin Ross/Arain Rowan/Anee: Yes, they are very annoying. But at least Julian and Arcane prevailed, no? Glad you liked the last chapter, hope you liked this chapter as well.

Anon(girl) : But if you had a shocker, life would be pretty boring, 'cause you'd never get off track. But Pyro is a wonderful guy, even though he'd probably burn everything in the house. Tut. Ah well, nobody's perfect, hunh? Hope you like this chapter!

Raliena: I have drawn pictures of Julian myself, but I never got around to putting them n the net.

Laureate: Hope this chapter answers your questions. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and I hope you like this one too!

Kally will take the reviews today. And look! She's celebrating the end of school! I'm celebrating too!


	12. Spy Mutants

* * *

A/N

This new arrangement is working nicely, I actually have a good bit of time to think up my next bit for this story while I progress the Morphos Effect at a better rate.

* * *

"They never complain about being hungry, they're probably loaded with food!" Jamie insisted, dragging the younger mutant along beside him. It wasn't as if they weren't being fed, but young mutant had a tendency to be hungry all the time.

"I think that's because they're both eating bugs."

"The Professor doesn't eat bugs!"

"How do you know?!""

"Because he's the man!"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I don't know, I heard Bobby say it."

"Mom's gonna kill Bobby if she hears he has such a profound influence on my life."

"What?" Jamie looked at him puzzled.

"Nothing."

"Okay, my guess is that if we follow them long enough they'll lead us to food!"

"They aren't going anywhere. They've been sitting out the in front of the Blackbird jet thingy just talking."

"They have to be talking about food."

"I told you not to eat those mushrooms."

"I didn't!"

"Are you sure?" The young mutant picked up a long ear questioningly.

"Okay, maybe I took a bite out of one but I spit it right back out, it tasted nasty."

"I wonder where Kurt is."

"Who knows? He might be trying to find a way to fish without using his tail."

"His tail is the only useful bait we had. It's the only thing that caught anything."

"You could have used your tail." Jamie said as he hid behind a tree just out of sight of the talking Professor and Mr. Logan. Mr. Wings had joined them. He looked remarkably better, after having a few days of rest. Arcane was nowhere to be found.

"I like my tail the way it is. Hey, have you seen Arcane?"

"Creepy guy I can't remember the face of? No. He's probably gone by now."

"No, he's still in the forest, I think. He's probably just hiding from the rest of us."

"He'll show back up. His car is still parked outside the shack."

"I wonder what they're talking about?" Julian asked as he climbed halfway up the trunk so he could look with Jamie.

"Can't you hear them?"

"Well, if I concentrate real hard, but I'm still not used to isolating sounds yet. I hear everything all at the same time, and I can usually hear voices because they're louder than the background noise."

"Background noise?"

"It's not like Mom's where she hears thoughts, I just hear what you hear, only better."

"Oh. Well, onto better things. Have they made the move to get food yet?"

"What move am I supposed to be looking for?"

"The Move!"

"You're making as much sense as Amara does half the time!"

"Okay, now those are fighting words." Jamie said seriously.

"I don't understand what you're talking about! What move?!"

"What are you two doing?" Mr. Logan growled as he walked over towards their tree.

"Uh…Nothing!" Jamie said swiftly.

"I think you two are doing something, and you better be moving along. I don't want to have to give you two danger room sessions when we get back to the Institute." Mr. Logan ordered.

Julian hopped off the tree and walked back into the woods, only pausing to wait for Jamie.

A few seconds later, Jamie leaned towards Julian's ear. "He says he doesn't want to give Danger room sessions, but I swear he lives for them."

"What was that, Multiple?!" Mr. Logan roared.

"Oh, crud! Run!" Jamie ran off as fast as he could.

* * *

A few hours later, Julian was climbing up a tree carefully, hoping not to slip down the side of the trunk into the river. Doggy was watching him with feigned interest, more worried that he'd fall into the river and wouldn't be able to get out than what he was doing.

He was doing some food finding.

Across the river was a large branch. The branch, f he could find a way to cling to it long enough, would swing downwards under his weight, in theory, and leave him a few inches above the water to catch fish by shooting his paws under the water and catching them. He was a good swimmer, but only in still water, not running, like the river. He wasn't all that coordinated with swimming yet.

Climbing to the point on the trunk he wanted, he estimated how much power it would take to hop to the center of the branch. Hopping sideways was always harder than hopping up or hopping down.

When he figured out what he thought he needed he tensed his legs and kicked off the tree trunk—

Too far.

--and landed in a heap on the other side of the river, banging his nose painfully on the dirt.

"Woof!" Doggy voiced his concern.

"I'm okay. Just jumped too far." He'd have to work on that.

"How'd you end up over there without getting wet?" Jamie called as he came down through the forest.

"I was fishing."

"Figures. Hey, want to go see what Kurt is up to?"

"Yeah sure, why not."

"Maybe he's fishing with his tail again."

"I don't think so."

"Maybe we could go spy on the Professor again!"

"I think Mr. Logan might hurt us if we do that."

"Like he doesn't enjoy younger mutants' pain anyway." Jamie said.

"Yeah, but I don't enjoy pain."

"All the more reason not to get caught!"

* * *

Hmm…a little short, I shall have to take care of that in the future…

Raliena: Oh really? Has it been working the way you wanted? The Broadband, I mean. Hope you like this chapter!

PrincessOfWildfire: Heh, thank you very much. Hope you like this chapter too!

Anon(girl): But if you made everything fireproof, he wouldn't be happy! Glad you liked the last chapter!

asp: Driving people nuts happens to be one of my better abilities. No, just kidding. I haven't fished in a long time either. Glad you liked the chapter!

Laureate: There goes symbolism, rearing it's ugly head. I'm glad you liked the chapter, and as far as Arcane, I'm sure he'll pop up again.

Kally will be fishing for reviews! Remember to add the needed fins!


	13. Two More Mutants

A/N

When I got done with this, it was actually shorter than I realized. Oh well. I'll try to make the next chapter longer!

* * *

"I tell you, we would have gotten back to civilization if Mr. Logan hadn't stolen away the jet under our noses." Jamie said sulkily. He and his friend were sitting at the edge of the forest.

The two young mutants had been trying to sneak onto the jet. Again. They figured the best way to order a pizza, as there seemed to be no currently working phones in the shack, was to search the jet for a cell phone.

The first time they had gotten caught on the ramp and told to beat it by Mr. Logan. When they tried to protest the injustice of the mush they had been eating, Mr. Logan threatened them with more training.

The matter was not pressed.

Now they had been about to try again, a scant day after their first attempt, only to discover the jet had disappeared, along with their instructor.

"I wonder where he went?" Julian twitched his nose thoughtfully.

"He probably went to get Roberto and Amara." Kurt called from above. "They were supposed to arrive at the mansion today. I heard we'll all be going back soon."

"Aw, but I was having fun!" Jamie pouted. "Except for everything that's been happening."

"Warren finally started flying again, so the Professor thinks we should move ourselves back to the institute." Kurt ignored Jamie.

"Good, I was feeling bad when he ran into those crows." Julian said happily. His warning to the winged adult hadn't come soon enough, when several days ago he came too close to some nesting crows, which were none too pleased with his presence.

"Of course we'll finally get more food, better food." Jamie was off in his own world of pros and cons.

"Have you seen Arcane? I haven't seen him around." Julian asked.

"Nein. Not once. Maybe he decided the shack was a lost cause and left. He's not all that responsible, Ja?"

"Only with responsibilities that aren't mine." A slightly annoyed voice said from the confines of the forest. A second later, Arcane stepped out of the shadows and walked past them.

"Where have you been?" Kurt asked.

"I was off having a vacation."

"But I though you were already having a vacation." Jamie said innocently.

"Right." The man left them to go fiddle around under the hood of his car. Jamie decided to go into the house to find some edible food, of which he knew there was none. Kurt ran off to go catch a fish, as he promised them he would do before he left.

Which left a certain small furred mutant alone.

Of course, there was only one person to talk to.

Julian got up from his seat in the grass and walked towards Arcane, who was still messing with his car.

"Whatcha doing?"

"I'm attempting to fix a car."

"How do you fix a car?"

"I have no idea." The older mutant sighed. "I was hoping to get a few extra miles out of this thing, but it appears to be on it's last legs."

"I though it had wheels."

"It's a figure of speech."

"Oh. Like raining cats and dogs?"

"Exactly." Arcane stood back and let the hood of the car slam down. It didn't fit correctly. He brought his fist down on the hood hard, leaving a small dent but also causing the hood to sit straight.

"Wow." Julian said, visibly impressed. The older mutant just shook his hand and massaged the red mark the action left.

"Why do people look under the hoods of cars?" He asked suddenly, perking his long ears up.

"We believe that the power of lifting the hood will give us insight to the problem."

"Oh. Does it?"

"No. It does the exact opposite and confuses you."

"Oh. Then why do you do it?"

"Same reasons. But sometimes I do know how to fix it."

"Cool." Julian suddenly found himself bored on the subject of cars, of which he wasn't all that fond of anyway. He wondered if Jamie found any food. "I'm going inside. Good to see you again, Arcane."

Arcane watched the kid walk into the old shack.

"Where does she get off with raising a kid that laid back?" He asked aloud, then shrugged and went back to examining the hood of his car.

* * *

"Why are we camping? Shouldn't we be back at the Institute?" Amara complained loudly from her seat.

"Like I told you a couple hundred times, Princess, we're gonna give the three I left up there a few more days to explore and such before we bring them back. Besides, Chuck is hoping Dolittle's kid is gonna come up with some more info on the situation. Besides, a little woodland life should be good for you."

Roberto frowned. "Why aren't we looking for them anyway?"

"Because they ain't here anymore, and until we can figure out a way to get to where they are, we're stuck." Wolverine said with a growl that clearly told them what he thought about the situation.

"We aren't giving up, are we?" Amara asked with a hint of alarm.

"Course not! We just met a stalemate, for now. We'll figure out something." Wolverine said with overwhelming certainty.

But back in his mind he wondered if he wasn't being optimistic.

* * *

Optimism, the Wolverine? Hear something new everyday, eh?

Laureate: True, he isn't a good influence. But think of all the things Julian learns…err…never mind. Hope you like this chapter!

Raliena: All reviews seemed to make it, so I think you're in the clear.

Anon(girl): Alright, tell him I appreciate his input. A fireplace should work nicely. Hope you like this chapter!

PrincessOfWildfire: I don't blame him either, I'd probably do the same thing. Hope you like the chapter!

Asteria: Planning to do so! Hope you liked this chapter!

Lunarious: Alright, I will read your story, and I hope you get around to reading the rest of the fic.

Kally will take the reviews again, and offers everyone fish shaped lollipops! What flavor? Now, now, that's a surprise!


	14. Fish Finally

A/N

Sorry about the wait, was having a mite of trouble getting the computer to work, and getting myself to work along with it.

* * *

"The bugs are eating ME ALIVE!"

Julian popped his head over the log he had been lying against to see Amara swatting at non-existant winged insects. Mr. Warren, that name being used now instead of Mr. Wings, was having to repeatedly duck as her hands swatted erratically.

"I will be so glad once we're back to the institute, where I never have to deal with these little pains ever again. When I was back at the palace they had people especially for this!" She ranted angrily.

Amara and Roberto had arrived late last night. Apparently, Mr. Logan got lost somewhere along the way. And he didn't want to pull over for directions.

Roberto was with Kurt, attempting to fish. But the fish were sly creatures, even though they barely knew the two mutants were there, and kept evading them.

Mr. Logan and the Professor were trying to figure up a syllabus, now that they were short a couple of teachers. They both seemed frustrated over it,, however, because neither of them seemed to want to divide the classes, as that would mean they were resigned to not being able to do anything else.

Arcane was looking forward to when the mutants left. He said that while company was nice, too much made him want to shoot something. What was not discussed.

Jamie was raiding the house again, but finding nothing he had wondered over to where the large three dogs were sleeping, or not sleeping, and had sat down boredly.

The dogs had their ears pricked in case something came their way. Nothing did, all of the animals had learned long ago that it really didn't pay to poke around.

Herman the bat was sleeping in the house, resting up for the trip back to Bayville. Or so he said. Let it be known that some bats are incredibly lazy creatures.

Julian idly tilted his head and watched Amara going on about bugs and palaces and why she shouldn't be served eggs on white bread. He wasn't quite sure how it got to that point, and from the looks of it, neither did Mr. Warren.

"It is just a few days."

"A few days are millennia for a Princess like me!" She was over dramatizing her situation too much.

"Ha! Millennia? Believe me, you have got it easy. I've been having so many things happening to me, it's a wonder I don't lose all of my feathers."

"Yes, well, you're probably used to it."

"I'm a millionaire. I am used to nothing that has to do with nature."

Julian rolled his eyes and got up and stretched. His tail whapped the ground and he took off at a run through the forest.

It was amazing to run. When he was younger, and his legs didn't always do what he told them to, he felt contained and well, useless, he supposed. He had always admired how the dogs seemed to move so effortlessly, with speed overwhelmingly fast, at least to his eyes. Now he knew that machines were faster, but machines seemed to lack finesse. Even the jet, the Blackbird, though nice and streamlined and obviously the pinnacle or air flight technology, seemed clunky and slow compared to the sparrows he'd seen playing outside his window.

Using all four paws he leaped up the side of a large tree. The bark wasn't very thick, so he dug his claws in as he climbed.

Soon he'd be able to fly. He always wondered how it must be to fly. He imagined it was like falling, only never actually hitting.

He scurried across a outstretched branch and hurled himself forward, straightening his body first to cut off the wind resistance, than curling up again to land on all fours to attach himself to the side of another tree.

If he could fly, well, there'd be no place he really couldn't go, would there? He would be a better swimmer, soon enough, once he got to deeper water, and when he learned to fly he could get up into places his claws couldn't take him.

He jumped backwards and flipped in midair so his head faced down when his claws came in contact with the bark again. Then he ran down the tree, face first barreling towards the ground.

Just when it seemed he was going to make the world's most undignified run, he leaped forward off the tree, and slid through the leaves. It was a little slippery, and he had to swing his tail to get his balance back. Once it was restored, he tore off into the forest again, sometimes sniffing the ground. The only scents were of the mutants and other animals.

Leaping over a dead log, he skittered to a stop when he heard voices. Lifting one long ear like a hunting dog, he listened carefully without making a single twitch.

Roberto and Kurt. That's who it was.

He mused that he might as well go see what they were doing. Judging by the sound of it, they hadn't yet caught fish.

He bounded easily into the underbrush, sneaking up on them.

"I swear, these fish must be stupid."

"Naw, maybe they are just extraordinarily smart, ja? They are saying to each others, 'I swear, these mutants must be stupid'."

He poked his nose out from under a bush and watched Roberto pulling on a stick he was using for a rod.

"They can't be that smart. I think I'm caught on some seaweed."

"Seavweed? We are not near ze ocean."

"You know what I mean." Roberto grumbled as the rod suddenly got unstuck, and slapped him across the face. "OOW!"

"Maybe someone up there is trying to tell us something." Kurt said sagely.

"What? Use a bomb instead?"

"Actually, I was thinking more along the line that mutants shouldn't fish."

"We should eat bugs?" Roberto retorted.

"No, I say we steal ze jet and go to the Burger Bomb."

"Logan would kill us."

"True, but not before we ate our weight in burgers." Kurt said with a big grin.

Julian stopped prowling after them and turned his attention to the water. The fish were swimming around the lines, but wouldn't actually come to them.

Fish sounded really good, actually.

He prowled forward, using the bushes as cover and crouched at the river's edge. He waited until the right moment, and then he leapt.

"Jul—" The rest of Kurt's sentence was drowned out by a torrent of water caused by Julian's dive.

Underwater, Julian caught one fish in his teeth and grabbed two by one paw and knocked one senseless with his other. The fish, sensing a predator, immediately swam in different directions and hid. He scooped up the one he stunned and swam upwards.

Roberto and Kurt immediately started yelling as soon as the younger mutant poked his head above the water.

"What are you doing! You scared the fish away!"

"You tangled up our line---Is that fish?"

Julian nodded a few times and began to swim forward, only to discover he was tangled in something.

"Helf!" He yelped, struggling. The two older mutants grabbed him and hauled him to shore.

"Didn't catch any fish. These rods must be made for mutants," Roberto said as he put the fish on a rock out of the way. Julian let him take the fish out of his mouth, but noticed it was put apart from the other three.

"No offense, it's just you have teeth marks on that one." Roberto said as he pulled out a small knife and began cutting what used to be the fishing lines from Julian's legs.

"Ja, we should be more careful with safety. Just think of the mutants we kill each year when they become tangled in fishing line."

"At least I got some fish." Julian said as he shook the last bits of line off. "Now what do we do?"

"We cook them, of course. Better grab Jamie and Amara, three fish should be enough for us." Roberto said to Kurt. Kurt immediately teleported away.

"There's four."

"Yes, but you should have a whole one, you caught them. Besides, you have some pretty big teeth, and you've left holes in the fish. And hey," He began arranging stones for a fire, "you'll probably want to give a bit to those dogs, right? They probably won't mind."

"Okay. Sorry."

"No need to be sorry. Without you, we'd have never gotten fish." Roberto said grinning. "Just be careful diving where people have got fishing lines, right? You could get hurt."

"Alright, sure." Julian nodded happily.

* * *

Behold the mighty hunting mutants.

Anon(girl): Leprechaun seems to be doing his job, I see. Kally thanks you for the sunflower seeds, and I hope you like this chapter!

Asteria: Perhaps. She probably won't come out of this story without some trauma, wildlife or otherwise.

PrincessOfWilfire: Yeah, that always mystified me too, but then I realized the truth. Hope you like this chapter!

Raliena: Wow, really? Back at school already? Here's another lolly, hope if you do use it for revenge, it works.

Kally will take the reviews wearing a fishing hat! Now that I think about it, fishing hats aren't really her thing.


	15. Leaving on a Jet Plane

A/N

I'm glad is up again, even though I now have no excuse for late updates. Oh well. Hope you all like the chapter!

* * *

"I am so glad we are going back, I can't see what people like about the wilderness." Amara said as she threw her fifty pound bag into the jet.

"I'd like to thank you for letting us stay at your house, Arcane." The professor said as the young mutants, all except Julian, who was trying to find some of the dogs that had wandered off, packed the jet with their pakcs. Two days for Roberto and Amara seemed to be too much. And Warren, who had been sitting in the jet hopefully for about half a day, had been there too long already.

"It's not mine." The mutant said calmly as he let his car run and stepped back to check the current stability of the engine.

"Whose is it, may I ask?"

"I have no idea, I just use it." He said as the engine began to spout blue gray smoke. "That can't be good."

"What did you do to that thing?" Logan yelled from the ramp.

"It had to be put out of it's misery some time." Arcane shook his head.

"Maybe you can come live at the Institute with us!" Jamie said innocently. That comment was quickly met by reproving looks by all grownups present. The Professor didn't want corruption, Arcane would be caught dead before he was caught at the Institute for anything but business, and Logan hated Arcane with a passion, and was still waiting for the moment when he could accidentally tear the younger mutant to pieces.

"I believe the answer to that, is 'no'." Arcane adjusted his hat slightly.

"Perhaps we can give you a ride." The professor's tone clearly stated he would rather crawl on his elbows through the subways of New York.

"No thanks, I'd rather walk."

"Afraid of flyin'?" Logan smirked as he dragged up the last bag and threw it behind him into the jet into the already haphazard pile.

"No, but I know your reputation for these things."

"What is THAT supposed to mean, bub?" Logan growled dangerously. Arcane just smiled under the brim of his hat.

"I'm back!" Julian panted as he crested the last hill before the shack. Loping behind him easily were the twins. Doggy got up from his shade under an old tree and padded over to the ramp, satisfied everyone was accounted for.

"Get on the jet, children. Are you sure, Arcane?"

"Unshakably."

"Very well then. Perhaps we will see each other again." The professor wheeled himself up the ramp. Arcane watched as Logan made sure everyone was situated. Before he shut the door to the Blackbird, he gave Arcane a threatening gesture.

And that was the last thing he saw before the door closed all the way. A few minutes later, the jet rose off the ground, and rushed off into the clouds.

He watched the Jet fly off with slightly mixed emotions. On one hand, he was glad they were all gone, and he could have peace to think. Another piece of him was broiling with hidden fury that the people he, The Professor, had said he would protect were missing, and he had resigned himself to helplessness. The next piece was annoyed because he knew that he would feel less a man if he didn't do something to busy himself with this interesting little mystery. And the last piece, he ignored that completely. Nothing good ever came from that piece.

Sighing, he went into his shack and packed a few things for the long walk back to civilization. He had a few favors to call in.

* * *

If Logan knew he had some of the same mixed feelings about the situation, he might have thought better of Arcane. Or he might have tried to spike the traitorous pieces with his own claws.

He blocked out the sounds of Amara yelling about brimstone and dogs, Roberto and Kurt and their fish, even though it had been the furred kid of Doolittle's that caught them, and the exploits Jamie retold to Julian. The Professor had managed to block out everything and was staring off into the distance as if he could divine an answer to whatever problem he was fighting with.

It could be about the missing kids. Or it could be what he had for lunch. He could never figure out exactly what the psychic was thinking, and wasn't sure he wanted to.

"Julian, you okay?"

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

Logan's eyes widened. There was only one thing worse than a mess on the outside of the jet, and that was on inside. The stink didn't disappear for days.

"Someone get a baggie!"

"Does it look like there are baggies on this thing?"

"Didn't they design this ship with airsickness bags?"

"I'm pretty sure that those come after, Amara!"

"Maybe we should open a window!"

"Do not open a window!" He yelled back as he dug his hand blindly into one of the overhead compartments.

All of this commotion even the Professor couldn't ignore, and Xavier turned around in his seat. "Julian is starting to change colors. I think there is a bag a few inches to the left of your hand."

Logan felt around and came back out with a burger bomb bag, with a decaying mold ball in the bottom. "Elf, we are going to talk about where you eat your lunch!"

"That actually belongs to Amara, if I caught that stray thought correctly." There was a sound of retching in the back. "But that doesn't matter, you'd better get him the bag."

Logan looked behind him and threw the bag slightly crumpled and caught Roberto in the head.

"Sunspot, give it to the kid."

Roberto hastened to obey, but almost didn't get there fast enough. Julian finished retching into the bag.

"Saved by Amara's food obsession." Kurt whispered.

"You are not one to talk about a food obsession." Amara snarled.

"In any case, we were saved by the paper bag." Roberto said, trying to placate the other two.

Precisely then, one of the twin rottweilers began to whine sickly.

"Uh…we don't have another bag up there, do we, Mr. Logan?" Jamie asked, inching away from the whining dog.

Warren muttered angrily to himself. "I should have flown myself. I could have made it easily, and at least I don't get airsick."

* * *

When they all got back on the ground, neither of the twins, which quickly began to show matching symptoms, had thrown up on the jet. However, they both scrabbled off of the Jet and took off to the woods to be in peace. Doggy seemed no worse for wear, and loped off easily in search of anything that might have been out of place when he left.

Julian fell into the grass gratefully while the jet rose up from the ground and quickly flew off for it's hangar, having dropped the young mutants and Warren off in front of the Institute.

He was utterly confused. He had ridden on the jet before, with little problem. But now he couldn't stand the thought. It was unnatural, the way it swung back and forth and rattled and dipped and he was making himself sick again. He groaned painfully and let both of his ears flop over his eyes like an old hound dog.

"Are you going to live?" Amara asked concernedly. He just uttered a soft groan in response. Amara patted his ears. "You'll feel better, I know you will."

He wasn't as convinced.

* * *

He blinked, once, twice. He scanned the room as he thought, trying to determine the difference through his sleepy eyes. His thoughts were ordered carefully. Nothing repeated itself, unlike the dialect that his kind spoke, their minds were devoid of repeating thoughts.

There was no one in the room, the shack, or outside. No twins laughing as they made crude jokes. No silent but ever looming presence of 'Doggy'.

No boy curiously asking questions from squirrels or frogs.

But there was a scent…the slightly oily smell of the hideous machine that had carried him to this perch in the first place. It had left recently, but his familiarity had blocked it out.

They had left without him!

Chittering angrily to himself in a language his mother, wonderful creature she was, would have dropped from the night sky upon hearing, and gripped the top of the rafter sticking bare out of the Human cave-shack-house with his sharp claws. He folded his hands around him halfway, blocking the light from the windows that were just catching the evening sun. The light blinded him. He would have to wait a couple more shadow lengths before he ventured out. It was too easy to be plucked from the air from a predator if he was blinded.

Oh, but he would get back. And when he did, he would give them a piece of his mind.

Oh yes.

* * *

Asteria: Kally thanks you for the fishing rod, sometimes she just can't get those sunflowers seed shells out. Thanks for the compliments, and I hope you like this chapter!

PrincessOfWildfire:Heh, thank you very much! I'm going to take a wild guess and say you did review my fictionpress story(what with the same name and all) and I'd like to say sorry, cause I didn't know the anon review blocker was still checked. Ah well, hope you like this chapter as much as the last one!

Anon(girl): Thanks, I'm glad you liked the line, I had a lot of fun writing that chapter. Hope you like this one as well!

Raliena: I'm not sure Kally is a baseball person, err…rat. Maybe football. You never know. Anyway, hope you like this chapter.

Kally will take the reviews! And she's guaranteed not to get sick from air reviews!


	16. Problems with Aerial Response

A/N

My first update since camp started….Sorry about the wait, but in my defense I did warn you, hope you like it!

* * *

"No."

"Please?"

"Absolutely not."

"Pretty Please?"

"What part of 'no' don't you understand?"

"But I need to learn!"

"Get someone else to teach you!"

"I don't understand them, not like I understand you!"

"I don't want you to understand me."

"Too late for that…"

"What was that?!"

"Err…I mean, I can't learn from a bat! Which reminds me…has anyone seen Mom's friend?"

"You should go look for him."

"If you taught me, I'd be able to cover more ground."

"You can't even support yourself!"

"Yes I can! Look, they grew in the last few weeks, and I can jump real far now!"

"Then go jumping."

"Wait! If you teach me, I'll never bug you again and make sure there aren't any of Mom's friends in your room!"

Warren Worthington the Third looked down (albeit not very far) at the pleading eyes of the mutant before him. In the last few weeks of camping he had not noticed, but the boy was definitely bigger in some ways. The shoulders were bulkier, a trait he would soon outgrow even as he had finally left his down feathers behind and his skin and feather wings had grown disproportionately large to the rest of his body. The tail seemed to be a little more active, more flexible as it left tiny scales and tuft of fur in its wake.

"It's a very good offer." Julian ventured, pulling his ears back sorrowfully, and looking up at him like Jamie had when he wanted a cookie from Amara earlier that day.

It wasn't fair, using warfare like that.

"Alright, alright! I'll teach you how to use the damn wings!"

"YES!" Julian hopped straight up into the air, an interesting sight for something that can jump over four feet straight up with ease.

"Okay. Calm down. We'll start with simply trying to life ourselves off the ground using gliding. You'll take a running start, then jump up while you spread your wings and try to keep yourself as steady as possible in a straight line. Since the lawn is empty right now we'll use it."

The indoors of the mansion was left behind as they found themselves a good, clear run of green grass.

"Ready? Go!" Warren watched the boy begin running on two legs, stumble, leap, and fall into a heap on the ground.

"Ouch." Julian got up, dusted himself off, and trotted back.

"Maybe you weren't meant to fly."

"That's pessimistic. I can do it if I think I can." Julian sniffed. Then he started to run again, but before he started opening his wings, dropped to all fours, built up momentum, and leaped into the glide almost flawlessly.

"I've created a flying monkey." Warren muttered as Julian tried to alter his course and flew straight into a bush.

"I did it!" Julian popped up, a branch stuck in his teeth. He quickly spat it back out and went trotting back. "What do we do now?"

"We practice."

And they did.

* * *

Several hours later, Julian's flight skills were drastically improving, but his head-on collisions were getting steadily more severe. After he ran into the fountain for the fifth time, the Professor ordered them to stop and resume tomorrow, hopefully to save both mutant and property from any more damage. Julian, however, was on cloud nine and was so happy that he could fly that he and Jamie started making plans for a trip to California, in order to make Bobby jealous.

It was all the Professor could do not to break out the aspirin.

Warren seemed pleased with himself, that he could teach students how to fly, and totally forgot that he had been opposed to the idea. This played right into Charles Xavier's hands, because if he could convince Warren that he loved teaching, then he could convince him to stay.

Logan was brooding even more than usual, and had taken several rides on his motorcycle in the two days he had been back, to clear his head. However, Charles knew from experience that these sort of things rarely stop preying on the mind.

If only he could have one assurance they were alright.

But that would make it worse, then he would have to ask more questions and be more upset than originally.

A loud clanging noise brought his attention to his window, where he saw Jamie helping Julian up from what looked like a collision into a group of trash cans.

'Boys, I believe I asked you to hold the flying till tomorrow.' He thought, while Jamie looked sheepish and Julian looked slightly dazed but still cheerful.

Jamie waved before dragging Julian off.

What was that, six bushes, two trees, five for one fountain, one straight into the wall, one into the door, twelve meeting the ground, and now six trashcan collisions? The boy was going to have brain damage if he didn't take care of himself. Though, McCoy did say the boy's head was originated from some sort of horned mammal, so that would make it harder than most.

Help us all if he starts to grow horns, he thought.

* * *

"Hey, you went down the stairs and didn't hit anything."

"Yeah, I think I'm improving." Julian said, twitching his ears. "I wonder how far up I'll be able to fly when I can do it real good."

"Figures everybody else has the cool mutation. I'll never fly." Jamie said a little sulkily.

"That's not true—I heard Scott say that once you got beyond your bratty kid stage you'd be great in the courses."

"Direct quote?"

"Yeah, he said some other things, but Mom caught me and dragged me away before I could listen."

"Darn. Hey, I'm not a bratty kid! Just for that, let's slime his car when he gets back!"

"Cool. So, you don't think they'll…"

"-Never come back? No way. They're the X-men, and that's the best team in the entire world! Nobody can beat us, they'll be finding their way back anytime, and I bet you anything Kitty brings home some new guy to tease that tin man and the Rock head with. Just you watch. Scott will still have—"

"Lunch!" Roberto called through the house.

"Hold that thought." Julian said as he padded off in the direction of the kitchen.

"Wait for me!" Jamie yelled, realizing his friend was leaving him behind.

* * *

asp: Heh, yes, I feel for both of them really. Well, I hope you liked this chapter!

AnonGirl88:Heh, thank you. Be careful though, if you lavish the compliments on too much I shall grow a large head and not be able write as well. Big heads get in the way of keyboards, you know. I hope you like this chapter!

PrincessOfWildfire: Actually, I was thinking more furred flying creature, with leathery wings, though I suppose I may have miswrote something, I'd have to go back and check. Though an insane squirrel coming to the institute would be interesting. Hope you like the chapter.

Raliena: I think you're back now, but I hope you like the chapter!

Kally will take the reviews!


	17. Water Damage

* * *

A/N 

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I know I should be updating more ofen, and I did try, but I'm afraid that updates will most likely be reduced to once a week. There will be more if I can swing it, but I have so many things to do, band in full swing, greater workload in the way of homework, chores, I am booked! But I'm not abandoning writing, so don't give up on me!

* * *

Julian's ears twitched as he stood in the room. The animals had cleared out, not one of them remained. Several had moved over to his own room, but none stayed here. The closet, which had held bats and nests for several different creatures, was uninhabited. Under the bed, some cats and reptiles had slept, away from noise and conflict, but now had disappeared. Around the room, where insects and other more hefty animals had stayed, was empty.

He didn't like that. It made the room smell less like her. Stale. Dead. As if the only thing left was a memory of someone he had been attached to in a way no one else could be.

It also reminded him that she may not come back. There was always that possibility. The others put on happy faces around he and Jamie, to keep them from worrying, but hey knew. They played the game in turn. If they appeared happy and naïve, it took a load off of the others' minds as well.

But how would he be able to understand? Parents were supposed to live forever, to be there until they weren't needed to scare away monsters or they weren't needed, and everyone knew that parents would always be needed. How, if she died, if she never came back, would he keep going?

He shook his head and shoved those thoughts away. They were not true. She would come back, because he still needed her and she knew that. She was always there when he needed her, just like all mothers.

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of a hoodie that had holes cut in the back to allow for his wings. His cut-off shorts were two inches above his knees, when only a couple months ago they had been several inches below.

He turned around and left, shutting the door carefully behind him. He contemplated the doorknob for a half second before turning to go to the stairs.

And nose to chest with Mr. Logan.

"You okay kid?" His normally gruff voice held a note of worry.

"I'm great!" He said back to the taller man (though not for long) with a bright, though false, smile.

Mr. Logan studied him. "No, you ain't. But you'll be okay. You're tough, kid." He patted Julian on the head as he passed, something Julian was slowly growing less fond of.

Trotting down the steps, he noticed an odd smell in the air. Sniffing deeply told him that the smell was somewhere in the dining room.

It was not food, which was something that definitely should be smelled in the dining room, but a damp smell. A rotten, soggy smell, kind of like the ones he smelt when he was running around in the woods.

Passing Roberto in whatever story he was reciting to Amara while she primped endlessly n front of him, he made his was into the dining room, where he stopped in front of an odd sight.

The wall was blotchy.

Very blotchy.

The white wall had turned brown, and seemed to be in rings, though they weren't like circles. The wall itself was soggy, and he was almost sure that it would crumble if he pushed too hard.

"Hunh." He had no idea what it was. He shrugged and wandered back into lobby of the school, once again running into Mr. Logan.

"Hey kid. You smell anything weird?"

"Like rotting damp wood? It's in the dining room."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?!"

"I just found out!"

Mr. Logan growled and walked off. After a moment, Julian followed.

Mr. Logan, when he walked, muttered to himself incoherently in a Canadian drawl. It seemed to get more obvious when he was annoyed. When they got to the dining room, he paced in front of the wall and growled.

"Water damage. Hasn't rained in a week, must be a pipe." He poked the wall gently and a little piece fell off. "Kid, go tell the others not to run any water."

"Okay." Julian trundled off. He found Roberto in the kitchen about to wash dishes and stopped him. Roberto didn't seem all that distressed and quickly left the kitchen before he was told different. Jaime was outside, digging up worms for his latest prank. He offered to let Julian help, but he had to decline. He still had to find Amara. The Professor probably already knew. The professor seemed to know everything. About humans, anyway.

Amara was nowhere to be found. He was sniffing the air besides the steps, but since she had lived in the house with them for almost a week, her smell was everywhere and it was difficult to pick out a scent.

Hers ears twitched involuntarily to a sound. Rushing water. She must be in the bathroom. He bounded up the steps and ran all the way to the girl's bathroom and beat on the door.

Loud music covered up the noise he was making. He knocked again, getting a not so polite response back. He tried to yell over the music, but he couldn't anything human sounding over the din.

"GAAAAAAHHH!" The yell sounded very Canadian. The music switched off, the water stopped, and a minute later, a soaking wet Amara covered in a towel opened the door.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Mr. Logan just screamed. He told me to tell you not to use water. Why are you taking a shower?" Julian asked curiously.

"I'm not going to resort to low hygiene, especially if this bathroom is all mine." Amara sniffed. She opened her mouth to say something else, but was interrupted when Jaime suddenly appeared in the hall.

"There's a giant hole in the wall in the dining room! You gotta come see it!"

Amara rolled her eyes. "I'm going to get dressed."

"I wanna see!" Julian hopped after Jaime as they raced back downstairs.

* * *

PrincessOfWildfire: That's okay. Furry creatures used to consist of bunnies when I was younger. Heh, I have to mention wings more, I think I may have left a few people behind. Hope you liked the chapter!

AnonGirl88: A head shrinking device! How novel! I shall have to make good use of it, for ONLY good, meheheh…Hope you liked the chapter!

Raliena: Glad to see you again! Kally thanks you for the hat, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Asteria: Very good advice, thank you. Heh, I know what it's like to run on only a few hours of sleep, so I know how you felt. Hope you like the chapter!

Kally will take the reviews!


	18. Beginning Water Damage Repair

A/N

Sorry for the delay, this week is lots busier than any of the others. But I'm not giving up! I will bring you updates!

* * *

"Dude, it smells." Jamie commented as they walked past the dining room. Julian full heartedly agreed- his nose was better than Jamie's, and he smelled it all too well.

Mr. Logan was in a fairly foul mood, being the only one qualified (or so the professor said) to fix the wall. Julian was having doubts, as the wall looked like a giant patch that kept breaking and the leak hadn't stopped yet.

A loud knocking on the door caught both boys attention. They both looked at each other, and then rushed off to the lobby to open the door.

In the process they almost knocked over Roberto, who had been running to do the same thing.

Jamie and Julian wrestled over the doorknob and somehow, between the two's scuffling, got it open.

Lance just stared at the two young mutants as they forgot about the door and rolled around on the floor, trying to get the upper hand over one another.

"Hey."

Jamie looked up from putting Julian into a headlock. "Hey Lance! What's up?"

"Hey little dudes!" Another poked his head under Lance and waved at the two kids. He looked at Julian. "Have we met?"

"I don't think so." Julian chirped while shoving Jamie off, causing several clones to appear.

To Julian's curious eyes, several more mutants appeared, a girl with gothic clothing like Rogue's, but looked very pretty, a very large mutant that looked like he could gobble the younger mutant straight up, and a thin mutant with white hair. Julian wondered if he wasn't a relative of Ms. Monroe. Evan's cousin, perhaps?

"That's the little furry guy I was telling you about." Lance said, looking around eagerly as he talked. The animal girl's kid."

"I remember, you always come to visit Kitty." Julian nodded.

"Yeah well, that'sreallygreat. Canwegonow?" The white haired boy snapped.

"Shut up Pietro. Hey, guys, you know where Kitty is, I wanna talk to her."

"Just'causesheblewyouoffforalmostamonth-"

"Shut UP Pietro!"

"She's not here. Now you guys should beat it." Roberto said, arms crossed over his chest.

"Hey now, we're not causing any trouble!" The big mutant said.

"Yeah, we just concerned about our fellow mutants, yo!" The second mutant jumped and stuck to the wall. He had a rather sickly complexion and an odd smell, but it didn't smell bad to Julian even though a Jamie clone that got too close ran away waving his hand under his nose.

"Where'd Kitty go? Did she at least leave a message? Where is everybody?" Lance asked, concerned.

"They're all go—"

"What are you guys doin' here?" Mr. Logan growled, cutting Julian off.

"Ohman,let'sgetouttahere." Pietro turned to move.

"Yeah, 'let's'" Mr. Logan's claws came out.

"Where's Kitty?" Lance demanded, stepping towards Mr. Logan.

"They went campin'. What's it to ya?"

"For an entire month? Something's going on, and I want you to tell me right now!" The earth shook a little. Julian's nose flared and he dropped to all fours and gripped the carpet. His puffed up form caused the Jamie clones to move back.

"I already told ya all ya needed to know, so beat it, Rocktumbler." Mr. Logan growled, locking eyes with Lance.

Lance looked away first, but refused to move. "I want to know what's going on. If Kitty's in trouble I want to help."

"She don't need your kind of help." Came the growl.

"Now, now, everyone calm yourselves."

The new voice belonged to the Professor, who had just wheeled in with Amara as a tag along.

"Lance, Kitty isn't here, and I'm afraid there is nothing I can do about that. We've lost a good bit of mutants, and we have no idea where they have gone. And while we cannot do anything about that, we do have a situation here that requires some help, if you would like to dispense it."

"What'sinitforus?" Pietro spoke very fast and it was getting continuously more difficult for Julian to follow.

"You can use the facilities at the school, including the recreation room at your discretion for the time being. Lance, if you would come with me, I will explain to you the situation."

Lance, looking very unhappy and worried, followed the Professor.

"What are we gonna do, yo?" The sickly mutant asked. He was answered by barely catching a tool belt that was tossed to him.

"Move it, Toad, need to fix a wall." Mr. Logan grumbled muttering something out of the corner of his mouth as he walked away. Julian caught part of it, and it wasn't all that nice.

"Cool. We get to be construction workers!" Toad hopped after him, followed by some less than enthusiastic mutants, including Roberto, who believed it was his job to watch them.

The only one left was the girl. She and Amara looked at each other, then ignored each other. Amara left the room and a minute later loud music began playing from upstairs.

"I hate that song." The girl said, crossing her arms. She glared at the two boys. "What are you looking at?"

"I like your clothes." Julian offered, not wanting to make her angry and hoping flattery would stop the hostility.

The girl looked at him for a minute, then shook her head. "Where's the T.V?"

"In the rec room. We'll show you, our favorite show is on in an hour!" Jamie said excitedly. "It's Mysteries of The Bizarre and Weird. It's really cool. There's a guy who has chicken wings on his back this episode!"

"Great, just what the doctor ordered, mindless dribble." She walked after Jamie, but suddenly stopped and turned around. "What's your name, fur ball?"

"Julian."

"Oh. Wanda."

"Hi Wanda."

"Whatever."

She followed Jamie off to the Recreation Room.

* * *

Anongirl88: OH, I have a few things planned. In any case, glad to hear you liked the last chapter, hope you like this one too!

PrincessOfWildfire:I know, he's been growing up, and you re-read the chapter? Wow, I thought I was one of the people who do that for fanfiction. I hope you like the chapter!

Raliena: I will! Hope you like the chapter!

Kally will take the reviews!


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